Redefining Family
by TuRtLe88
Summary: COMPLETE James Potter is starting a family. What happens when an old flame who he's still very much in love with shows up and wants him back? Eventually AU. James/Severus, James/Lily, Remus/Sirius for now... Rating to be safe.
1. Spies and Bis

**A/N: So, this is a BRAND SPANKING NEW story and I know you're jealous. I got the idea thinking about a former teacher and the kid she just had… it's a long story, actually, but my darling Conscience helped me think up the idea. I don't know WHAT would give you the idea that I'd give up JPiND just cuz I have this because I so totally won't. Oh, I posted this as Sev/James cuz there are too few Sev/James stories but there's going to be some James/Lily too. Don't get too upset, please. Siri/Remie will be in here as well so don't get scared. PEOPLE WHO HATE SLASH, WALK AWAY NOW. It probably won't get to graphic. The rating is more as a precaution because something tells me angsty characters like these swear a lot… and I've been watching anime so that doesn't help anything. Uh, yeah, have FUN with it, people! Oh, and I like reviews. They make me want to update faster.**

_**Disclaimer:**__** Let's see… reasons why I DON'T own this… uh… well, I SO TOTALLY HATE REMUS/TONKS so that would have never in a million years happened if I owned Harry Potter… and, um… oh yeah, there would be lots and lots more slash. Dumbledore's just not enough, Jo!**_

"Professor, please," Severus begged. Severus Snape never begs. Ever. However, he had a very good reason to beg Albus Dumbledore. He was begging forgiveness. Two minutes as a Death Eater had shown him that the life was not for him to lead. He had been in denial about it the last year, though. 

Finally, his mind had come around when he had seen the announcement in the paper. The one that had announced the engagement of one James Potter and one Lily Evans. Severus had known then that he had to get the one he loved back. He had, of course, taken his time in acquiring the courage to go to the good side.

"Severus, how can I know that you truly believe in the cause? How can I know that you're not trying to infiltrate my ranks and send messages to your Lord?" Albus looked at the boy, for he was little more than a boy, standing in front of him. He still had the same long, dark hair that needed a good wash, the same black eyes that appraised everyone and everything calculatingly, the same scrawny stature, that he'd had as a student of Hogwarts. The only thing that had changed was that he'd hardened more to the world.

"Because I love him," Severus replied. He was almost in tears. He didn't know what he could do to prove his loyalty to the good side. 

"You love who, Severus? Voldemort is a male, if you've forgotten." Dumbledore watched Severus for a reaction. The one thing that bothered him by the situation was that he could not really say for sure if Severus was lying or not. Snape was gifted in the art of Occlumency and would most likely reflexively shut Dumbledore out of his mind if Legilimency was attempted.

"Potter," Severus admitted as he stared at the floor, almost ashamed. Dumbledore wished, not for the first time, that he were a muggle police officer so he could tell just by mannerisms if Snape were lying or not.

"Would you agree to Veritiserum in order to prove your story, Severus?" Dumbledore asked softly.

"Of course, sir," Severus looked up with passionate eyes.

"Very well," Dumbledore replied. "I'll go ask Horace for some. I'll be but a moment." Dumbledore strode over to the fire and Flooed down to the dungeons. He was back a few moments later with a small vile of clear potion.

Dumbledore dropped a few drops on Severus's waiting tongue. He waited a moment and then asked the first question.

"What is your full name?"

"Severus William Snape."

"What is your birthdate?"

"January 9th, 1960."

"Do you genuinely want to fight against the Dark Lord Voldemort?"

"Yes, for James."

"Did you know that he's betrothed to Miss Lily Evans?"

"I saw it in the paper. That's what spurred my decision to leave the Dark Lord."

"Do you know of a spy within my ranks?" This last question caught Severus off guard.

"Vaguely."

"Do you know who it is?" Dumbledore was desperate. Every time they went to stop a raid the Death Eaters had been tipped off and would flee before Order members could get there.

"I only know that he's short and rather unconfident," Severus replied.

"That will be all," Dumbledore cast a charm to nullify the effects of the potion. "Now, I shall ask you a question that would be troublesome if answered completely honestly." His blue eyes twinkled in an amused manner.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this?" Severus asked in tired, dry tones.

"I need a spy to even the playing field," Dumbledore explained. "You're the only one I have on the inside at the moment." Luckily for Dumbledore, Snape always caught on rather quickly.

"I understand your reasoning behind this decision. I can Occlude. I'm already a Death Eater. It's a very obvious choice. I'll do anything to fall back into your favor, sir." Severus' black eyes met with Dumbledore's blue. They nodded to acknowledge the commitment that shone in their eyes.

"I can't believe you decided on your Best Man so quickly, James!" Lily exclaimed as they went over wedding plans for what felt like the thousandth time.

"How is it hard to believe? Sirius has been my best friend for nearly nine years," James replied. He really didn't see why it was so astounding.

"But you've been friends with Remus and Peter for just as long," Lily pointed out.

"Actually, Prongs and I met first," Sirius said as he barged into the Potter family kitchen. James and Lily had agreed not to move in together until after the wedding. "And then, twenty minutes later, we met Remus. About seven minutes after that, Peter came into our compartment and the rest, they say, is history." Sirius grabbed an apple from the basket on the table and bit into it as he sat on the table.

"Besides, Sirius is like my brother. Period." It was true. He and Sirius were like troublesome twins separated at birth.

"Well, it's starting to feel like I'll never figure out who will be my Maid of Honor. Honestly, I think I always expected Petunia to fill the role," Lily sighed.

"Why don't you ask her to," James suggested. "I mean, none of your friends would take offence to family obligation. Actually, if you do it this way, you won't hurt anyone's feelings." He was growing tired of all the wedding talk. Everyone knows that the bride should plan the entire wedding and let the groom only make minimal decisions.

"Hmmm, I think I'll go visit Mum and see what she thinks," Lily muttered. "Don't get in too much trouble, you two." Her emerald eyes twinkled in amusement at them. She knew they'd get in too much trouble no matter what she said.

"Yes ma'am!" Sirius shouted but remained seated on the table. As soon as he heard the front door shut and the lock turn, Sirius turned to James. "You sure you want to do this, mate?"

"What do you mean am I sure?" James shot Sirius a look. "I wouldn't have asked her to marry me if I wasn't sure."

"So you're positive this is what you want?" Sirius continued to stare at James questioningly as he took a bite of apple.

"Sirius, why are you asking that? Isn't it obvious? Besides, if you'll recall, the moment I met Lily I announced that she'd be my bride." James got up from the table and shook his head at his friend.

"I believe your exact words were 'I'm going to marry that girl someday,'" Sirius replied effortlessly. "That was when she and Snape asked if they could sit with us on our first train ride to Hogwarts and you demurred because… hmm, I can't even recall what excuse we made. But the point is, as soon as she was furious with you, you said that." Sirius swung his gaze around to where James was now standing.

"Your purpose in that retelling has been lost on me," James replied.

"Well, you were eleven. And then, four years later, you decided you fancied Snape," Sirius pointed out. "And the two of you were madly in love for a time. He even let you date Evans because the two of you couldn't be seen together. His friends would kill him and you knew your grandfather would cut you out of the will for being with a boy." Sirius took an emphatic bite of apple.

"What are you saying, Sirius?" James sighed. He was tired of Sirius' roundabout way of getting to his point.

"Well, you're still in love with him, aren't you? You don't just stop loving a person. And how can you marry one person when you love another?" Sirius watched his friend closely.

"I'm madly in love with her, too, Padfoot," James admitted and sunk back into his chair. "That's how I can marry her."

"So you love two people. You should be with the one you love more." Sirius was staring unflinchingly at his friend's confused eyes.

"First, I love them both equally," James insisted. "Second, I'm with Lily right now. Third, he made his choice and I wasn't it." James' eyes grew hard with anger.

"He was afraid, James. His father's a crazy muggle. You know how muggles are about such things. They're still trying to come around to the idea. We have the luxury of fertility charms and potions. He was friends with purebloods who publicly look down upon such concepts as that particular brand of fertility magic is rather recently discovered. What would you have done in his position? You were just as afraid of what society would think of you." Sirius gave James an unrelenting look.

"I'm not you, Sirius. I was always James Potter, golden boy of Hogwarts. You were always Sirius the sexy rebel. From day one you were a rebel. From a family of Slytherins, you became a Gryffindor. You befriended a werewolf (unbeknownst to most, of course). You denounced Slytherins. Sirius, you were allowed to shun society's expectations because you always had. I didn't have that option." James shot Sirius a fierce look.

"Wonder what he thinks of your engagement," Sirius replied airily. James hated that. He hated that Sirius could just pretend like they hadn't just been fighting if he wanted.

"I wouldn't know! I haven't spoken to him since he chose those crazies over me!" James snapped and left the kitchen.

"I've planted a seed," Sirius said to himself in a sing-song voice.

"Hi Mum," Lily greeted as she slumped into the Evans' living room couch.

"Lily," her mother commented. "Wedding planning is exhausting. I remember when I planned my own wedding." Mrs. Evans got a faraway look on her face.

"MUM!" Petunia exclaimed excitedly as she entered the house. She ran into the front room and looked ecstatic.

"What is it, Petunia darling?" Their mother raised her eyebrows amusedly.

"Vernon proposed," she said with feeling.

"That's wonderful, dear!" her mother exclaimed.

"That's great Petunia." Lily beamed. "I offer you my best wishes."

"Oh, you're here," Petunia scowled.

"Um, Petunia, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor and be my Maid of Honor. It would mean a lot to me." Lily gave her sister an earnest look.

"Only if you'll do the same for me," Petunia said through gritted teeth. Lily could tell it took a lot for her sister to neglect her pride for this much.

"Of course I will!" Lily exclaimed before hugging her sister.

"Thank you," Petunia whispered. Lily smiled even wider.

The rest of the afternoon, the Evans women spent their time planning Lily's wedding and brainstorming ideas for Petunia's. Lily decided on china colors and linen colors and the typeface to be used on her invitations. Petunia decided she wanted a small wedding in a cute little church.

"James Andrew Potter!" Mrs. Potter screeched from the top of the stairs.

"What do you want, Mum!" James shouted back, to lazy to actually get up and go towards his mother's voice.

"Get over here this instant!" she shouted,

"Yes Mum," James replied grudgingly and reluctantly got off the couch, set the sports section of the _Daily Prophet_ down and made his way to the stairs. "What?" he called up to her.

"You need to get proper dress robes for your wedding. I would just go out and buy them but we need them tailored." Mrs. Potter glared down at her son.

"Mum, I have months until the wedding," James whined.

"No, you have A month," she replied. She was quite used to whining.

"Be a man, Prongsie and get the robes tailored today. Evans is out trying to find the perfect dress today anyways." Sirius materialized next to Mrs. Potter.

"I want a muggle tux," James replied. "I'll look stupid standing next to her in dress robes."

"Fine, but we're still getting them at Lady Cassandra's. She's the best tailor in the country," Mrs. Potter insisted. "And she'll make just about anything. Perfect for my crazy son and his ridiculous friends."

"We need to call Moony and Wormtail," James insisted. "They're in the wedding party too."

"Already called. We need to leave now or everyone will be waiting for us." Mrs. Potter came down the stairs and tried her best to straighten her son's hair. While she was distracted, Sirius slid down the banister. "Sirius, what have I told you about sliding down my banisters," Mrs. Potter chided nonetheless. She was a mother, after all; she had eyes in the back of her head.

When the three arrived at the tailoring shop, Remus, Peter and Lady Cassandra were all waiting for them. Remus was sitting on a bench reading a book, Peter was pacing nervously and Lady Cassandra was staring out the window with a glare.

"Well hurry in," she ushered them in. "Honestly, you don't think I want to go out of my way for you just because you're a Potter, boy." She glared at James.

"Too bad I'm not getting married. I do so love receiving glares," Sirius smirked toward his friend as he plopped down next to an oblivious Remus and put his arm around the werewolf.

"Hey Sirius," Remus greeted without looking up.

"I would have landed in your lap had you not been sitting with your legs crossed," Sirius pouted.

"Mmhmm," Remus replied.

"Bet you didn't even hear my getting married comment. Perhaps I'll find me a lady to settle down with because you're always reading, dear Moony."

"No you won't Sirius," Remus said semi-distractedly as he placed a bookmark in his book. "You'd grow far too bored with a woman."

"Too true," Sirius replied with a sigh. "That's what I've got you for, isn't it?"

"Would you two lovebirds shut up," James said as he was being measured by Lady Cassandra. Lady Cassandra did the best work partially because she took all measurements by hand. Madame Malkin usually used a magic tape measure.

"I refuse to be quiet when I'm so very in love with Moony. He's the peanut butter to my jelly." Sirius tugged Remus closer. 

"Pads, we're in public," Remus pointed out.

"I realize that," Sirius replied with a smirk.

"Remus, darling, I don't see why you don't stay with us. It would be one thing if you were still living with your parents but you're living in a flat by yourself. You really should stay with us, dear," Mrs. Potter insisted. Of course, she insisted this every time she saw the werewolf.

"I couldn't, Mrs. Potter. I'd be too much trouble," Remus demurred shyly. He didn't want to hurt her feelings but he had yet to tell her about his furry little problem and he didn't plan to do so any time soon.

"You're coming over for dinner after this and we're talking about it. That's final, do I make myself clear?" Mrs. Potter said threateningly.

"That would be lovely, Mrs. Potter. It's been ages since I've had a home cooked meal." Remus smiled at the thought.

"What're we having tonight, Mrs. P?" Sirius asked lazily.

"I think Rudy is making a pot roast. I'm not sure if I should have left him in charge of dinner but I could _not_ leave him in charge of my son's wedding attire. I will suffer through a terrible meal if I have to in order to have my James looking his absolute best on his wedding day." Rudy, or Rudolph as everyone else called him, was James' father. He was raised on old-school pureblood traditions and had thrown all of them away as soon as his own father was no longer in control of him. Some things though, like always looking his best and charming, misleading smiles, were habit and had remained long after his father had passed on.

After an hour of Sirius fighting with Lady Cassandra over the fit of his pants and another hour of trying to get the right measurements from a ticklish Peter, the boys were back at the Potter household.

"I wish I could stay for dinner, Mrs. Potter, but I really do have a date," Peter was sweating from the pressure of trying to convince James' mother to let him go. After having a son like James, she was used to dealing with the stubborn fairly well.

"Seriously, Mum, Petey here has a date and it really would be a shame to leave his love life as stagnant as it's been," James tried to coerce his mother.

"Fine, but Peter you're coming over for dinner sometime this week. Do I make myself clear?" Mrs. Potter was always trying to make herself clear. It was her favorite thing to ask.

"Yes Mrs. Potter." Peter looked almost ashamed of himself.

They all sat down for dinner and Sirius immediately started in on an animated conversation with Mr. Potter about crazy muggle inventions like gay bars. Remus rolled his eyes before commenting on Mrs. Potter's newest additions to the house. James found he liked neither conversation and busied himself by telling everyone (even though they weren't listening) about how amazing Lily was.

Mrs. Potter had a solemn face on as dessert came. James knew from experience that she saved all heavy conversation topics for dessert. "Remus, if you'll recall, we have a conversation to finish."

Remus let out a deep sigh before replying, "Yes Mrs. Potter."

"Why do you always refuse my offers to house you, Remus. You can hardly pay for that apartment and Sirius is here." Mrs. Potter gave Remus a serious look.

"I have some very personal reasons why I won't," Remus replied, staring at the plain linen tablecloth.

"Oh Remus, do you honestly think that I hadn't already figured out you're a werewolf?" Mrs. Potter laughed. "Sweetie, it's kind of obvious." Remus looked up hopefully, angrily and fearfully all at once.

"If it helps any, I didn't figure it out until Alice told me," Mr. Potter admitted. 

"And you're not afraid of me?" Remus' eyes shone with fear. James was positive that Sirius' hand was gripping his under the table.

"Of course not. You're harmless 27 out of every 28 days," Mrs. Potter smiled warmly at him as she always did.

"96.4 percent of the time," Sirius added with a huge grin. "And the other 3.4 percent you're a sexy wild beast."

"Something tells me I don't want to know why you know those percentages," Remus shook his head.

"Sirius, what have I told you about saying 'sexy' at the table?" Mr. Potter said in his 'all business' voice.

"Not to do it?" Sirius replied sheepishly. "I'm sorry but when Remus is around I just can't HELP myself," Sirius said in a dramatic voice.

"I'm trying to eat DINNER here, Sirius," James scowled.

"You do remember that you're bi, right James?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah but you two are like my brothers and it's just sick to think about your romantic… stuff." James cringed at the thought.

"Since when are you bisexual, James?" his father asked.

"Uh, I figured it out when I was sixteen, I think," James replied, pretending to be confused. He could recall the exact date when he'd fallen (hard) for Severus Snape. He knew this; Sirius knew this; Even Remus could tell.

"Honestly, Rudy, you couldn't tell? I knew that as soon as he was mentioning Lily once per letter or visit home that he was into someone else. I also knew how pretty that girl is and I knew it must be someone completely different and therefore completely male. I also knew this because he refused to mention the boy." When James was little he could have sworn his mother was a Legilimens. He wasn't quite sure now. He figured she was just far too perceptive for her own good.

"Oh he mentioned him, just never in a way that you'd realize it was his romantic interest he was talking about," Sirius smirked smugly.

"Padfoot!" James shouted in dismay. He knew that his mother would never let it go now. And that was exactly what Sirius had wanted, of course.

"Who was it, James?" his mother asked, watching her son carefully.

"Severus Snape," James mumbled into his pastry.

"Why were you always so cruel to him?" His father asked, oblivious.

"Because I liked him! That's what kids do when they get crushes. They crush those crushes just to be near them." James was tense. He never shouted at the dinner table and very seldom in the presence of his parents.

"Well, I think I'm going to turn in. Moony, darling, you're staying the night." Sirius gave them all a devilish grin before dragging his boyfriend out of the dining room.

"I think I'm going to go to bed too," James said, forcedly calm.

"Of course, sweetheart," Mrs. Potter said softly. She knew she would tread carefully around this topic in the future.

Lily awoke in the bedroom she shared with her older sister to find that Petunia's bed was already made. She then looked at the alarm clock on her sister's nightstand. It read 9:55.

"Oh my, I overslept!" Lily squeaked to herself. She hurriedly got dressed and did her hair and makeup while muttering a freshening charm. After she made it all the way to her day planner and started opening it she realized she had nothing to do that day.

She went downstairs leisurely and got herself a small breakfast. Petunia sat at the table eating her own breakfast and watching Lily carefully. "This came for you," Petunia handed her an envelope with green writing on it. Lily recognized the neat writing instantly.

It was a note from Dumbledore. It asked to meet her at the Hogwarts Headmaster's office at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Lily swore under her breath. It sounded urgent so she assumed something was wrong. She quickly informed Petunia that she was off on business and didn't know when she'd be home. Petunia nodded dully, and Lily ran up to her room and Disapparated.

"Hey Lily," Alice Longbottom greeted when Lily entered. 

"Hey Alice, Dumbledore called," Lily said smiling. She was trying not to fret too much.

"Ah, go on. I'm just watching the door today." Alice rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"Sucks," Lily said sympathetically. The only reason Lily relished in the door duty was it gave her time to look at bridal magazines. The redhead then when to the back of the house they were using as headquarters and knocked once on Dumbledore's door before being bid to enter.

"Ah, Miss Evans. You've finally arrived," Dumbledore smiled at Lily. Everyone seemed to be smiling that day.

"Hello Lily," a deep, dry voice said from the corner of the office. Lily whipped around to see Severus Snape standing there. He was a little broader, though not much, than she remembered. He seemed to be outgrowing his awkward teenaged phase though he was still a tall, thin man.

"Severus," she said in an icy tone. She twisted her engagement ring around her finger nervously.

"How many times must I say I'm sorry, Lily? I was a fifteen and I was far too young to know what I was saying." Severus looked truly repentant and Lily almost cracked right there. She'd never been able to say no to Severus' black eyes when she was younger. Of course, his eyes had been a good deal warmer then too.

"A thousand more before I even begin to consider it," Lily said, crossing her arms. "What was it you wanted, Professor?" Lily calmly moved her green-eyed gaze to the silver haired man behind the desk, watching the interaction amusedly.

"Actually, I wanted to inform you that Severus is a spy for the side of the good." Dumbledore wore a manipulative smile. Of course, it wouldn't be construed as a manipulative smile by a casual observer. No, one had to be well-versed in the ways of Albus Dumbledore to spot the hint of not-quite-innocent intentions.

"That's nice. Why would I care?" Lily looked more than a little cross. Her arms were crossed, she had a leg jutted out and her emerald eyes were staring at the two men in the room icily.

"Lily--" Severus started but was cut off.

"No. I don't want to hear it, Snape. I can't believe I defended you all those years. James was right about you." She glared at him. His eyes had hardened at the mention of James.

"He hasn't always hated me," Severus replied guardedly.

"What are you talking about? He used to hex you in the halls for walking to close to him!" Lily shouted. She continued to glare. Her grudge for one Severus Snape wasn't going to end here, if she had anything to say about it.

"Ask him. Although he may not admit it, he and I got on quite well for a few years," Severus bit out in his dry tones. He was trying to be condescending and aloof. He was trying to be his normal self but somehow, just thinking about James and Lily together made him angry beyond belief.

"I don't believe you. He might just play it off as a joke anyway," Lily glared.

"Ask Lupin then," Severus replied. Lily looked at him oddly.

"How well _did you get on?" She gave him a suspicious look._

_"About as well as Black and Lupin," Severus replied. He then turned to Dumbledore. "I must be going. I've potions to brew." He turned to leave, his cloak twirling up._

_"Wait," Lily said, a hand on his arm. "Are you serious?"_

_"Why would I kid?" He said, turning back to see her heartfelt, questioning glance; it was almost pleading. His eyes were as cold as ever. It didn't feel good to be rejected for friendship._

_"Severus, I'm sorry I've been so harsh," Lily muttered._

_"Oh really?" Severus snapped, an eyebrow quirked almost interestedly._

_"Well, if James thought it worth his time to be nice to you, even for a short while, I'm sure there's some good in you." Lily smiled warmly at him. Severus sighed; that was Lily for you. If there was any remote possibility that you had a shard of good in you she'd trust you._

_"I really do need to brew those potions," Severus replied but his face had softened slightly. Lily knew that things were better between them. Not good, no, things would never be quite 'good' again probably but they were better. That's all that mattered._

_"You know how to reach me," Lily replied with a bright smile on her face._


	2. Pouting and Pals

**A/N: I LOVE REVIEWS! Okay, so the reviews for the last chapter of this made me laaaaaaaaugh. The first one told me something along the lines of 'You have problems'. No shit I have problems. I've known that for yeaaaaaaaaars. I'm crazy and luvin' it. Now, if you're referring to the issues that allow me to write things like this I like to call them 'muses' because I LIKE them. And, I don't think they're a problem. (The last part of that witty comeback provided by Conscience. Because seeing sound is sexxy.) The second review asked 'Where is the next chapter?'. Well, I found it! (And by found I mean I finally finished writing it). It's right here! I know, you're astounded at my finding skills. Je trouve chaptaire deux de Redefining Family. Yep, I did just tell you I found this chapter in French! You're jealous. Moving on, Conscience doesn't happen to know that the phrase 'arse over teakettle' is similar in meaning to 'head over heels'. In fact, the two can be used interchangeably. Now, I know you lot (my readers) are much smarter than that but sometimes Con can be a little scatterbrained… Don't worry, I love her anyways. Oh, and the bit about Dumbledore being a manipulative bastard… well, that's my own opinion. I'm sorry if you love him. And cheers to anyone who can figure out who he was visiting.**

_**Disclaimer:**__** Because Cho has yet to die, this still belongs to Jo Rowling. I'm sure you're all devastated, as it were, but I don't have the money or the time to buy this from Jo. Suffice it to say, I shall remain in the world of fan fiction. Unfortunately.**_

"Oh, hello Lily dear!" Mrs. Potter cried upon seeing the young witch at her doorstep. "James has been in a mood for most of the day. Perhaps you can cheer him up." Mrs. Potter was smiling widely despite all this. Of course, she was just a good-natured, motherly sort of woman in general.

"Hello Mrs. Potter," Lily said as she stepped in.

"EVANS! FIX YOUR BOYFRIEND!" Sirius called from the sitting room. "He's raining on my parade!" Sirius pouted as he entered the foyer.

"Which is your way of saying that Remus is here and you'd rather spend time with your boyfriend than your moody best friend, right?" Lily asked, a knowing glint in her eye.

"You're a smart woman, Evans. Prongsie needs someone like that in his life because he's so stupid." Sirius smirked, knowing full well that James was most likely listening avidly to their conversation.

"Well I need to talk to James in private, if that's okay,." Lily replied, smiling once again at Mrs. Potter and brushing past Sirius. "And Black, I do mean privately. Don't even _try_ anything." Lily smirked, not even looking back at Sirius' defeated look.

When she reached the sitting room she noticed James staring moodily at a book. He wasn't reading it, that much was obvious because she watched him for a good long time and he didn't turn the page. "James," she said softly, picking the book out of his hands and setting it aside. "We need to talk about something."

"You're not breaking up with me, are you?" James asked, staring dejectedly at the floor.

"Of course not," Lily let out a tinkling laugh, knowing it was really, truly true. She hadn't thought before what Severus' words had meant to her before. Now she knew that she was secure enough with herself and her relationship that she knew a fling between the two meant nothing to her. "I love you James Potter, and nothing, _nothing_ is going to change that."

"I love you, Lily," James said with feeling. Lily smiled and kissed him quickly.

"I love you too," she replied, pulling him in for a hug.

"Merlin, those two are sappy!" Lily heard Sirius mutter from just outside the room. With his canine hearing he could probably hear everything they said _quite_ clearly. Lily tiptoed quietly to the wall and pounded exactly where she knew Sirius' ear would be. "GOD DAMMIT!" they heard him shout.

"Stop listening to my personal conversations, Black!" Lily called to him. She then cast a few charms over the room to keep prying ears (and any other body part) out. "He'll never learn…" she muttered.

"It's the Marauders' way," James muttered distractedly. "Why the secrecy?"

"I have to tell you something but you have to promise me, swear on anyone's life to make it honest, that you won't tell anyone. Not even Black. This is important, James." She stared at him sternly.

"How important?" James hated keeping things from Sirius. It was his least favorite thing to do and it _always_ led to a fight.

"Dumbledore ordered it," Lily replied. "I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't really important. I know you hate lying to Sirius." She held his hands as they sat on the couch together.

"I promise," he replied. "I swear on Sirius' worthless life and your beautiful one… and on my mother's life. I won't tell a soul." James looked serious and Lily knew he was. James would only swear on his mother's life if he really meant something. She knew he loved and respected her more than anything in the world.

"All right…" she started. She took a deep breath and continued on. "I saw Severus yesterday." She watched his face grow dark.

"And…" he prompted. She hadn't realized she'd been quiet for so long.

"And, first, Dumbledore told me he was a spy for the good. He's working for us." Lily watched James' disbelief write itself all over his face.

"And then, Severus and I had a conversation about… our friendship…" Lily trailed off.

"Did he hit on you? I swear to god if he hit on you--" James was in a right fury but Lily placed a placating hand on his arm.

"James, he didn't. In fact, he told me about your relationship with him." Lily was choosing every word carefully. She didn't want to upset James too much and she could tell this was a touchy subject.

"What did he say," James asked guardedly.

"That the two of you had once been as close as Sirius and Remus." Lily watched his eyes. "Is that true James."

"Yeah," James sighed. "I'm sorry, Lily."

"It's all right," she said quietly. "It made you a better person, I think." She stared at him adoringly. "And besides you're with me now and obviously not him."

"Yeah, about that…" James looked guilty. "When we first started going out, me and you, that is, it was a cover so people, people who follow societal rules, wouldn't figure out me and him were together." James waited for Lily to explode. She didn't though.

"It's all right James. I understand." She was obviously trying to keep something in. "You fell in love with me, right? You fell in love with me and left him." She watched and waited for him to affirm this. She needed this affirmed.

"Not quite. I, um, didn't leave him until he joined the Death Eaters. That was the last straw," James replied. He would have bet his vault that Lily would explode here but she didn't.

"You really love him, don't you?" she said, tears in her eyes. "I was just the rebound."

"No. I really love you. And it doesn't matter what I feel for him, Lily. He made his choice a long time ago." James looked her in the eyes. "Merlin, Lily, I'm so in love with you even I can't believe it." She smiled at him then.

"I love you too, James."

A few hours later, after a glorious make-out session with his fiancée, James was laying on his bed, going through memories. He was especially stuck on memories of Severus now that his family and Lily had dragged him to the forefront of his mind in the past few days. He recalled the last time they'd spoken to each other.

_It was a few years ago and James had just come from an Order meeting. They'd just gotten out of school and James was excited to be actually doing something for the war. The two were meeting at Severus' tiny house. He'd bought it with his own money and James was proud of him._

_"Severus," James muttered as he held the slim boy close to him._

_"Mmm?" Severus was nestled deeply in the embrace. Too deeply to give an actual response._

_"I love you," James said, kissing his head. Severus smiled into James' chest._

_"Love you too," he replied._

_"Let's make it forever," James said suddenly._

_"Make what forever?" Severus asked, raising his head to make eye contact._

_"This, us," James gestured vaguely. "I wanna be with you forever."_

_"What will people think?" Severus asked skeptically. "We've kept this secret for so long so we wouldn't be criticized." _

_"Screw everyone else. I'm in love, Sev. I don't want to hide it anymore." James was serious. Very serious._

_"What about Lily?" Severus gave James a pointed look. "I know you haven't just been stringing her along but yourself as well in that relationship."_

_"She's pretty. She'll find someone who'll love her." James just shrugged it off._

_"James, we can't," Severus insisted._

_"There's no reason why not," James replied stubbornly._

_"It can't work. Our families will go mad at the thought, our friends…" Severus trailed off. James could tell he was afraid._

_"It can work. Family are the people who only want what's best for you; what makes you happy. This is it. And our friends? Your 'friends' may not like it but my friends all know already." James plowed on. "You should ditch those Death Eaters. They're not good for you, Sev. You know that."_

_"James…" he said quietly, " I just… I can't."_

_James had cried that day after he'd left. He hadn't cried in ages but Severus, the boy he'd made fun of for crying all the time in school, had made him cry this time. It didn't feel good. In fact, James hated it. He hated everything that day…_

James could feel tears in his eyes remembering that day. He didn't know what he wanted. He'd never known what he wanted. He loved Lily and, for all the opposite reasons, he loved Severus. But Severus _had_ made his choice that day. And so, James didn't have to choose. He had Lily and she loved him back. She was going to pledge to be with him 'til death do they part. That made James happy. Someone wanted to spend their whole life with him.

"James!" Lily called as he entered the Order headquarters. Both had been summoned for a super secret meeting with the Order's new spy. She ran and hugged him and he hugged her back tightly. He'd finally just decided that the past was in the past and he wasn't going to worry about it.

"So, why exactly are we here?" James asked her as she latched onto his arm and the walked into Dumbledore's office.

"He didn't even tell me," Severus sneered. All present in the room knew that was how he handled being uncomfortable: making everyone else feel inferior.

"Snape," James nodded toward him. Snape returned the gesture.

"So Severus, did you continue on in potions then?" Lily asked. "You were always so wonderful at them."

"I did," Severus replied easily. "That's actually how I get by. I sell my creations through vendors in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. I'm sure I'm getting robbed blind but I don't particularly mind."

"You seem pleasant," Lily smiled brightly at him.

"As do you," Severus commented.

"Are you flirting?" James asked through gritted teeth.

"Potter, are you insinuating that I would make a move on a woman who's obviously spoken for?" Snape raised an eyebrow to go with his dry tones.

"Yeah!" Lily cried. "Stop being such a stick in the mud-- what is it that Black calls you to piss you off? Prongsie?" She shot a mischievous grin at him.

"I knew I should never have let you near my friends, darling." James pulled Lily closer and kissed the top of her head. She would be feisty either way, he knew. He just liked to tease her.

Then, out of nowhere, the door shut with a loud thud. James went over to it and tried to open it but it was locked. "Shit," he mumbled. "Someone try apparating real quick," he turned to the other two.

"James, how many times do I have to tell you; No one can apparate or disapparate from the headquarters as the protective charms of Hogwarts have been duplicated on the building." Lily sighed.

"And of course he has no fireplace or windows in here," James muttered angrily. "And I highly doubt any of us is willing to risk ourselves and make an illegal portkey."

"You mean to say we're stuck here, Potter," Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Would you stop doing that?" James scowled. Snape raised the eyebrow higher. "DAMMIT!"

"Something wrong, Potter?" Severus asked in mock-pity.

"This is just fan-fucking-tastic," James muttered to himself.

"He needs to collect himself, Severus. Perhaps we should leave him to his thoughts for a while," Lily suggested before steering the taller of the men in the room to the opposite side.

"He's not taking this well," Lily observed. "He was obviously distraught when I last talked to him. Every time you're mentioned he goes into this particular spiral of self-pity." Severus looked down to see angry green eyes glaring up at him.

"I was afraid," Severus said softly. Lily had hardly heard him. Of course, she happened to have strong hearing so she had caught it.

"That's never stopped James," Lily pointed out affectionately.

"He's brave," Snape replied. "I'm just a coward."

"And cowardice breaks hearts," Lily stated emphatically.

"You seemed to have happily just jumped back into our friendship," Snape remarked dryly. Lily could tell he was uncomfortable with the former topic.

"Well, you've finally figured some of it out, Severus," she smiled at him. "And, since you needed a best friend who you can tell ANYTHING I decided that I would fill that post. We here on the light side trust people, Severus."

"You expect me to tell you everything." Severus raised his eyebrow yet again.

"Does James really find that irksome or did he do that out of frustration?" Lily asked quietly.

"Frustration, I should think. He's never said anything about it before." Lily watched Severus lose himself in memories of another time, another place, when things weren't quite so dark for him.

"I'm huuuuuuuuungry," James whined, momentarily himself. If there was one thing that could get James to be himself it was food or lack thereof.

"You and Sirius get in enough trouble I'd expect you to think ahead," Lily had a bemused smile on her face. Sitting in a room for three hours had given the perpetually prepared redhead time to work on wedding planning. Things were really getting down to the wire and she couldn't wait.

"Moony always packs the sandwiches," James pouted. "Like that time we got stuck on the roof. And that time when we got lost in the dungeons. And that time we were locked in the Ravenclaw common room…" James' mind drifted off to his school days.

"Well, I'm sorry but I'm not Remus. I didn't think to pack anything." Lily sounded almost guilty.

"YOU HAVE CHOCOLATE!" James shouted accusingly. He had jumped up and he was pointing a finger at her. Just then, a package hit his forehead.

"Eat that," Severus muttered before going back to studying notes he was taking on a potion he was creating.

"What are they?" James asked, popping one fearlessly in his mouth.

"Chocolate covered raisins," Severus replied distractedly. Lily's face contorted in disgust.

"Ew, raisins are gross! Why waste chocolate on something so nasty?" The redhead looked utterly confused.

"They're a muggle invention," Snape muttered. "Why are you so surprised about it?"

"Because I avoid raisins at all costs," Lily replied haughtily.

"They're just wrinkly grapes," James said with a handful of candy in his mouth.

"Exactly! They make you oooooooooooold!" Lily moaned.

"I think you'll age gracefully, darling, no matter what you eat," James replied with a goofy grin. "Not as gracefully as me for I'll never age, but as gracefully as possible."

Severus looked up and scowled. He knew, just by that look, that James and Lily were quite in love. He knew he had no hope, not an icicle's chance in hell, but he was going to go through with this. He was going to be a spy because he loved James and he didn't need anything more than that. At least, that's what he told himself.

"Am I interrupting something?" Dumbledore asked with an amused grin. All three heads whipped around. Not one of them had seen or heard him come in. Even James, whose hearing was greatly enhanced due to his animagus form, hadn't heard the manipulative old bastard. He had, most likely, also come in from a secret entrance. No telling how much he really liked to astound and surprise people, all things considered.

"Nothing at all, Headmaster," James replied respectfully. He never felt easy around Dumbledore but he knew, knew without a doubt, that Albus Dumbledore was a Good Man.

"How many times have I told you to call me Albus?" the old man chuckled

"Where were you? We've been here _ages_," Lily complained.

"I was just visiting an old friend in prison." Blue eyes twinkled as he said this. There was the usual amusement but there was also something else. Something deeper down. "You may all leave. I think I've held you hostage for too long.

"There never was a meeting, was there?" Lily accused, fire in her bright green eyes. Dumbledore didn't answer.

"Hmmph," was all Severus said as they all vacated in a single file line.

Lily waved goodbye as James Flooed home. They'd only kissed on the cheek as to not make Severus feel to uncomfortable. Then, she turned to Severus. "We're spending time together, mister, whether you like it or not. Now, where to? My place or yours? Just as forewarning, Petunia's probably home." Lily smiled mischievously.

"Come," Severus dragged her to the apparition spot and they used side-along apparition as Lily had no clue where they were going. Then, Severus led her into his home.

"It's lovely! I want a house just like this!" Lily cooed. "It's so small and cozy!"

"Would you like some tea?" Severus asked calmly.

"Yes please!" Lily chirped happily.

Once they were settled in the sitting room with their tea, the two sat quietly. "You're still head over heels for him," Lily stated. "Arse over teakettle. You're in love."

"I didn't need the clarification," Severus replied glumly.

"Why-- What about-- Why aren't you doing something about it?" Lily scowled at him sternly.

"Because he loves you," Severus replied calmly. "It's enough for me that he's happily in love."

"Oh bugger all!" Lily cried in frustration. "Don't think he isn't still arse over teakettle for you! Why else do you think he's always such a pain in the arse when you're around! Or when you're mentioned!" Lily stared at him exasperatedly.

"You want me to swoop in and steal your fiancé mere weeks before your wedding?" Severus asked skeptically.

"Better than breaking up a marriage, is it not?" Lily stated defiantly.

"And what are you going to do with your broken heart?" Severus asked mildly. "I doubt this friendship would survive that, no matter what you say."

"I'm a big girl. I can fix a broken heart if I have to," she sniffed indignantly.

"It would never work," Severus stated firmly. "We're as dysfunctional as dysfunctional gets."

"All proper families are fairly dysfunctional. There's me and Petunia. Or James and his friends. Severus, nothing's perfect." Lily crossed her arms across her chest.

"Lily, we're never in the same place at the same time. If I'm ready for forever he's off being immature. If he's ready for forever I'm scared out of my mind and in deep shit. Too deep to ever get out fully." He gave her a meaningful look. "It just wasn't meant to be."

"Tell that to the fairy tale writers. I'm personally a big fan so _I'm_ not going to offend them." Lily had made up her mind and Severus wasn't going to change it. He didn't think anyone could.

"You, Lily Evans, are all personality," Severus said, chuckling slightly. Lily brightened Severus' good mood.

"Well, I do try." Her chest puffed out proudly.

"He's yours, Lily. He's happier with you than he could ever be with me," Severus smiled sadly. "He gets his happy ending and, this way, so do you." And then, Severus was suffocated with a hug.

"Now, to get down to business," Lily said after she had, Severus was sure, crushed a few of his ribs. "Are you only into boys or can you get off on girls too?" She raised her eyebrow suggestively.

"You've been spending far too much time with Potter and Black," he drawled.

"Well…?" she asked impatiently.

"Just men," he replied with a sigh. "Though if any of the wrong crowd get wind of that my head will no longer be attached to my body."

"You have my honor that they won't hear a word of this from me," Lily promised. Severus knew she would keep her promise too. Lily was a woman of her word. It was part of the reason she'd become a noble and true Gryffindor.

"Good," Severus replied concisely.

"What's the Lilster up to?" Sirius asked as James came in, still munching on the chocolate covered raisins.

"No idea," James replied

"She's your fiancée and you have no idea what she's up to. What if she's shagging some other man?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Padfoot, how long have you known Lily?" James gave him a look.

"Since first year ," Sirius replied slowly.

"So you should know, just as well as I do, that Lily wouldn't do something like that. Hell, she and I haven't shagged yet." James pointed this out casually. He watched Sirius' reaction. His eyeballs almost popped out of his head.

"You HAVEN'T?" Sirius blinked a couple times. "Moony and I have been since--"

"Don't want to hear it!" James cried, clapping his hands over his ears.

"Oh come on! You gave me all the gory details the first time you slept with Snape!" Sirius protested loudly.

"You _asked," James replied._

_"I just wanted to know if sleeping with him was as bad as looking at him," Sirius shrugged._

_"You're being insensitive again," James pointed out._

_"Moony doesn't mind when I'm insensitive." _

_"Padfoot, you're hiding right now because you and Moony are in a fight about your insensitivity." James rolled his eyes at his best friend._

_"Something happened," Sirius observed, keen to get off the topic of his and Remus' fight. "You were upset earlier, pining for your darling Sevy and now you're not. What happened?"_

_"Moony told me that he'd be fine if you'd just apologize for being a stupid git," James said, ignoring his friend's question. "Of course, you've always been one so I don't see what apologizing is going to do to change that."_

_"I mean, I know you're in love with Evans-- you two are so sweet it's sickening-- but you're still in love with Snivellus too. I don't see why but they do say love is blind. Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that you must've had some closure on the Snivelly front for you to talk so carelessly about it." Sirius, despite being a pain in the arse at the best of times, was annoyingly observant._

_"I promised Lily, swore on my mother's life, that I wouldn't tell anyone about it. Even you." James looked guilty. "Look, it's really important that it stays secret or we'll have a huge problem."_

_"Why?" Sirius asked._

_"There's a spy within our ranks. The spy can't know this little tidbit of information that Lily told me because it would mean bad shit would happen to the Order." James tried to use his facial expressions to help convey the importance the secret was._

_"You don't think I'm the spy, do you?" Sirius asked, looking slightly hurt._

_"No! Of course not! It's just Dumbledore won't be so certain. I wish I could tell you, I really do, but I can't."_

_"All right," Sirius conceded. "Now, you're going to help me convince Moony to forgive me and forget this silly fight…"_

_"Are you coming to my wedding, Severus?" Lily asked, hands on hips, when he showed up for dinner at her parents' house. She'd invited him and he was on time, something that didn't shock her in the least._

_"Do you really want me to?" He asked dryly, an eyebrow raised. "Wedding's aren't exactly my scene."_

_"Oh, I'm sure you're more into the punk rock scene. When will I get to see you on stage with your bandmates Booger and Earwax playing music from slightly out of tune instruments?" Lily shot him a look. He was shocked that she could keep a straight face through such a long joke._

_"Not only are our instruments out of tune but I'm under the impression that Earwax, our lead singer, is tone deaf. Also, you forgot our electric trombone player, Armpit Hair," Severus replied, his tone as sarcastic as ever._

_"I want you at my wedding, Severus," she said sincerely. "And I'm sure James would be happy if you were there as well." She handed him an invitation._

_"I'll see if I'm available," he replied. "You know I'd only do this for the two of you."_

_"Of course. Anyone else and it would be awkward!" she chirped happily. Severus shook his head as he followed her to dinner._

_"Ah, Severus! It's been such a long time!" Mrs. Evans greeted him. "You've grown up into such a handsome man. If both my daughters weren't engaged, I'd try to marry them off to you." Her smile was warm and inviting, as always. Severus mused how few things ever really changed._

_"Mum, Severus doesn't like girls," Lily informed easily. "So don't you go trying to marry him off to your friends' daughters. Sons, however, are acceptable."_

_"Lily," Severus hissed._

_"It's fine, dear. I'm not as old-fashioned as I seem," Mrs. Evans shot him a knowing smile. "Besides, that Lupin boy Lily's always hanging about with is gay as well. I'm quite used to it."_

_"You willingly spend time with that mangy-- with Lupin?" Severus asked in a whisper._

_"Remus' furry little problem hardly bothers me," Lily replied with a roll of her eyes. "I don't see why it should bother anyone. He's a human being with feelings and other such nonsense. He's only a monster one day every month. We women have a whole week when we're monsters," Lily smiled at him._

_Dinner went better than Severus would have expected. It was as if nothing had happened between him and Lily, as if there had been no fight. He was shocked by it but grateful. He'd forgotten how nice it was to sit down and have pleasant conversation with dinner instead of a heavy, empty silence surrounding him or other people's meaningless chitchat. _

_After dinner, however, he had to excuse himself quickly. His left forearm was burning. Lily noticed it and scowled. He wasn't particularly pleased himself; nothing good ever came of being called like this._


	3. Wedding Bells

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter took so long. I really didn't mean for it to… but the muses ran away. Really, they did. And they went on vacation without me. Suffice it to say, they're back now. Hopefully for a while. In fact, I've already got the next chapter written. Reviews are all I need to post it. While I was writing this chapter, a few things came to mind. First, was about Lily's family (Petunia especially) and how I want Petunia and Lily to have a good relationship. Next, I thought that I really **_**didn't**_** want to make Peter evil. That, however, I will not change. I've got another plan, a better one, for his replacement. Next, I want to say that I plan for this fic to be… jumpy, I suppose. It's going to have a lot of jumps in it with no clear transitions. I'm bad at transitions, what can I say. Thanks for all the reviews I get. I've decided to post around once a week… that is, if I get reviews. So don't hesitate to tell me how much I suck and am going to continue to suck and that you're going to read the story for the suck factor… or you can tell me how awesome I am. And, of course, this one is dedicated to the always awesome Conscience, and whoever decides to send me REVIEWS.**

_DISCLAIMER__: I really don't own much of anything. Martha is my _only_ character. And, of course, it's not like she'll have a huge role anyways. So, as long as I don't own this, I might as well ask that you not sue me. That's just not cool, you know?_

The day of the wedding had finally arrived. James didn't care to think about the bachelor party Sirius had thrown him the night before. Severus had been there and it had been awkward. Sirius and Remus decided (after they were long inebriated) that groping in front of the others was thoroughly okay. They always got like that when they were less than sober though. Peter had been moody and antisocial.

Of course, guys they knew from the Order had been invited and, luckily for all, Severus' secret was kept. Then again, James was the only one in the group who knew. Sirius and Remus probably chalked up his recent presence in conversations with Lily's need to make good with all those she was fighting with. Something about the war made her want to make sure that people she cared about were on speaking terms with her, just in case she died. She didn't want to end up with people hating her to the grave.

As James sat in the Potter Manor kitchen drinking a large glass of water, Sirius woke up. He gave a dog-like yawn as he sat up. "Morning Sirius," James mumbled.

"Where's your ex with those hangover potions?" Sirius asked, scrunching his eyes up in pain.

"Merlin knows," James replied. He had wondered the same thing when he'd woken up. But then, he didn't think of Severus as his ex; in fact, he tried not to think of Severus at all. It was easier that way.

"Shut up," Remus moaned. The werewolf glared at Sirius who was beaming brightly and in a rather painful manner. "Siri, your teeth are too bright."

"Why did we sleep on a tile floor?" Peter moaned. It had been the Marauders plus Severus who had been at the party latest. James recalled Sirius and Remus passing out before him but, when he'd finally lost consciousness, he had the distinct feeling that Severus and Peter were still awake.

"When one drinks, one has a tendency to fall. And whatever one falls on feels like the nicest mattress in the world so one tends to pass out," Sirius stated philosophically.

"Peter's not allowed to talk anymore," Remus growled and buried his head in Sirius' chest.

"Here," Severus said, striding purposefully into the kitchen and setting four vials of identical potion on the kitchen table.

"Snapey is my hero!" Sirius cried. The Marauders all winced at his volume.

"I must be going. I need to get ready for the ceremony." Snape turned and left as quickly as he had come.

"Don't know what you saw in him, Prongsie." Sirius shook his head at his best friend. He was back to his regular self, having been the first to reach the potion. As the other three downed theirs with grimaces of varying strength, Mrs. Potter walked in.

"I hope you boys didn't get in too much trouble last night," She remarked. She was obviously surveying them for damage. "All of you, go take a shower," she ordered. After seeing Sirius' impish grin she added one more word, "Seperately." They all made their way to various bathrooms throughout the house, Sirius pouting the whole way.

James looked at the time after his shower and immediately decided that with an hour before the ceremony, he should probably put on his suit. He dressed and cast a drying charm on his hair, ruffling it for effect. When he made it downstairs, havoc was ensuing.

He hadn't noticed it before, being so groggy from sleep and so preoccupied with showering. Now though, there were people and furniture and all other manner of things flying through the house.

"James!" his aunt Geraldine cried. "You look positively dashing! Just let me fix your hair!" she was holding her wand aloft, levitating a giant potted plant while she advanced towards James.

"No thanks, Aunt Geraldine. My hair is fine the way it is," James replied as he cautiously backed away from his least favorite aunt. "Besides, Lily likes my hair like this."

"PRONGSIE!" Sirius came barreling towards the two. "Prongsie, Moony's hiding from me!" he whined.

"He's probably helping Lily out," James replied, pointedly ruffling his hair as his aunt made her way downstairs.

"But Prongsie, I love Moony! Evans loves you!" Sirius was just begging for attention and James knew it. "Besides, Moony's your friend, not hers."

"You do know you're going to have to start calling her Lily after today as Evans will no longer be her surname, right?" James pointed out to Sirius.

"What! I'm not going to stop calling her Evans just because it's not her name anymore!" Sirius cried in indignation.

"No, you're going to stop calling her Evans because I'll hex you if you don't," James replied coolly.

"You're mean," Sirius folded his arms, making his pouting evident to anyone passing.

"Come on. We should get ready for the ceremony," James said, leading his friend off.

"You're lucky it's your wedding, Prongs," Sirius stated defiantly, "or I would be forced to continue whining, guaranteeing that I'm the center of attention. You know about my complex."

"Everyone knows about your complex, Pads," the tired voice of Remus replied.

"Moony! You're not avoiding me anymore!" Sirius cried before smothering the young werewolf with a hug.

"Sirius, I can hardly breath like this," Remus complained. "And you're ruffling my clothes."

"No, no, no! I'm the complainer in this relationship!" Sirius cried like a two-year-old. The other two sensed something was up. Sirius only acted like this when he was really feeling insecure.

"Sirius, just because I'm getting married does not mean that we can't still be best friends." James correctly guessed what was wrong with his best friend. "We're practically brothers and that's not going to change. If anything, you'll just have to go out of your way to bother me and Lily now."

"'It's not fair," Sirius pouted. "That woman is stealing my best friend, and she's going to keep him far, far away from me."

"First of all, she is not _stealing_ me. Second, I would sneak away just to plan mischief with you. Third, and most importantly, I hear that Moony refuses to allow those evil women to steal him from you." James said the last part in a conspiratorial whisper. Of course, Remus heard with his wolfishly enhanced hearing anyways, so the whisper was more for effect.

"Moony, is it true that you won't let silly women steal you away from me?" Sirius shot his boyfriend the puppy eyes. His grey eyes looked so pleading that Remus could only nod.

"Good. I'd hate to lose you to them too. I suppose Peter's just succumbing to all the evil, letting those women take him." Sirius seemed to be his normal, cheerful self again.

"What evil?" Peter asked, coming down the hallway with a mess of wet hair adorning his head. "Moony, could you do the drying charm on my hair? I never quite got that one." Remus waved his wand distractedly, drying Peter's hair.

"Are you going to be okay, Sirius?" Remus looked concerned.

"Yeah man, you're looking sub-par and I can't have my best man looking sub-par. That's just not on," James added with a forced grin. The Marauder _was_ to make light of any and every situation, after all.

"I'm fine. What are you talking about?" Sirius wore a confused smile though they could all see it was fake.

"Nine years and you think we'll fall for that shit, Black?" James raised a challenging eyebrow. Everyone knew that if James or Sirius addressed the other by last name it was a goad, pure and simple. They used the group nicknames for everyday matters and their own, more girly nicknames for each other for light teasing. When they addressed each other by first name (which happened very, _very_ seldom), those who knew them best knew things were serious.

"Of course not, Potter. Now stop being idiotic or I'll have to rearrange your face. I'm sure that _Lily_ won't appreciate her groom being all bloody." Sirius had a challenging air about him as well. "Today's about the two of you. Stop worrying about little old me. I'm just nervous because I've yet to write my Best Man speech, is all. I'll probably get a little tipsy and wing it." Then, Sirius flashed them his trademark impish grin and the boys let it go.

"Come, boys. We must get ready for this shin-dig!" James cried, throwing an arm around the two closest shoulders, Sirius and Peter. Sirius threw his free arm around Remus' shoulder and the four headed down the stairs and out onto the lawn where the ceremony was to be held.

"Well, don't you four look like you're up to your usual tomfoolery," their old Transfiguration professor, Minerva McGonagall, commented upon sighting the four.

"I hear that I'm supposed to pose as a groom today," James said, a smirk pulling across his face. "I hear the bride's a pretty one, too."

"To think, us in a wedding party. What on earth was anyone thinking?" Sirius asked.

"This sounds dangerous," Peter muttered.

"Don't worry, Wormtail. I'll take the brunt of _Lily's_ anger," Sirius said.

"Why do you keep emphasizing her name?" James asked with a scowl.

"Don't you usually call her by her surname?" Peter looked thoroughly confused.

"It won't be her surname in a few hours," James pointed out proudly.

"Sirius is just upset and is pointing out every little nuance that will be changed when the day is out," Remus explained to them all.

"You need to take it in stride, Black," McGonagall coached. "Just because things won't be the same doesn't mean they won't be pleasant."

"Spoken like a true woman," Sirius said decisively.

"I thought it was very philosophic and I think you should listen to her." Remus gave Sirius an almost reprimanding look.

"Well, I think we all know who the woman is in our relationship," Sirius replied airily.

"Are you two together?" McGonagall looked shocked.

"You're surprised, Professor?" James looked amused. "They were practically groping each other everyday in class by the time we graduated." Both canines shot James angry glares.

"They were always very close, I suppose," McGonagall mused.

The ceremony started not long after. James had stood, with his three counterparts at his side, and watched Lily float down the isle. Her maid of honor was, of course, her older sister Petunia. Next to Petunia was Alice Longbottom and Martha Covington, a girl they'd known in school.

By the time the ceremony was over, there were few dry eyes in the garden. James had teared up, Remus was blotting at his eyes with a handkerchief, Sirius kept muttering about something in his eye and Peter was practically sobbing-- and that was nothing compared to the girls.

"Oh Sirius, for Merlin's sake! Just be a man and admit you're crying!" Remus cried as the wedding party ambled into the house and through the halls to the Potter family's ballroom, where the reception was to be held.

"Merlin's sake?" Petunia raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Black, a man? I thought he was sleeping with you, Remus," Martha joked.

"You're kidding!" Alice cried.

"You thought the groping at meetings was for show?" James asked.

"You're strangely obsessed with our groping habits, Prongsie," Sirius observed, slinging an arm across Remus' shoulders.

"No way! Why didn't anyone tell me?" Alice gushed.

"Because we thought it was obvious," Peter pointed out. "I mean, they've been going out for _ages_."

"Surprising, really, with Black's previous record," Martha muttered.

"He was a womanizer?" Petunia guessed.

"That's putting it nicely, Tunia," Lily explained.

"He does look like one," Petunia mused. "But then, I automatically pegged him as queer."

"That's because the one time you met me before today I had my tongue shoved down Moony's throat!" Sirius cried.

"That sounds grotesque, Black. Keep thoughts such as that to yourself," a drawling, deep voice said behind them.

"Do they always bicker like this, Severus?" Petunia asked.

"If the women are around, yes. If it's just those four," here he pointed to the Maruaders who had gotten into a shoving match, "then they're usually more graphic, with worse language and a fist fight usually ensues."

"I often walk into a room with the four of them on the floor with hair pulled and black eyes… It's atrocious, really." Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I've broken up more of their fights than I ever did when patrolling the halls as Prefect and Head Girl at Hogwarts."

"That sounds dangerous," Petunia replied, wide-eyed.

"Petey and Moony only ever get involved because they try to separate me and James but Wormtail can't even hold Prongs back," Sirius said with a shrug.

"It's true, unfortunately," Remus affirmed.

"Is that where you got all your scars?" Alice asked. The five boys and Lily grimaced.

"I'm not even sure anymore," Remus answered lightly. "We've done so much that it's hard to keep track where the scars come from."

"_Nice save_," Sirius whispered lovingly into Remus' ear.

"Well, I really should go find Frank," Alice told them. "I promised I'd eat dinner with him; he just got back from a mission and all." She smiled at them before heading off to a separate section of the ballroom.

"I'd love to stay, Lily, you know I would but duty calls," Martha said sadly. "I wouldn't mind being an Auror, I really wouldn't, if we could just catch some damn criminals every once in a while." She shook her head sadly.

"It's all right, Martha," Lily assured her friend. "I'm just happy you were able to be my bridesmaid. You were one of my best friends at Hogwarts, after all." Lily smiled warmly, her green eyes twinkling happily.

"You stay out of trouble, _Mrs. Potter_," Martha joked. "Oh, and Potter, take good care of her. If you hurt her, I swear to Rowena I will kill you." There was a dangerous glint in Martha's sapphire blue eyes. "I will see all of you squares later." She kissed Lily and Petunia on the cheek, waved goodbye and apparated away.

"She was a Ravenclaw, wasn't she?" Severus asked calmly.

"Yeah. Only Ravenclaws would swear to Rowena," Lily said with a sad smile.

"Auror seems like an odd profession for a Ravenclaw." Severus looked thoughtful.

"She mostly deals with intelligence and undercover stuff," Lily replied. "Though Martha's not your average Ravenclaw."

"She did spend a lot of her free time with a Gryffindor, after all," Peter put in.

"What are you all talking about?" Petunia asked meekly.

"There were four Houses at Hogwarts that kids got sorted into," Lily explained to her sister. "Each one has a specific characteristic that they look for. Gryffindor, what James, Remus, Peter, Black and I were, is known for bravery. Ravenclaw, where Martha was from, is known for knowledge. Slytherin, Severus' house, had a main trait of ambition. Hufflepuff, the fourth, is fond of loyalty and acceptance."

"Most of the houses have stereotypical members," Remus continued Lily's explanation. "Sirius and James are a prime example of Gryffindors considering they have little regard for consequences." The brothers in all but blood shot her bright, if over the top, smiles. "Ravenclaws are usually quiet and thoughtful; Martha was very different from her housemates. Slytherins are usually cold and snobby." Remus paused to shoot Severus an apologetic look. "And Hufflepuffs are often very nice, if not always the most intelligent of beings."

"Yeah, Hufflepuff was my second choice in Houses," Sirius explained. "Because Ravenclaws are far too stuffy." Petunia looked a little confused as to why he had left out the fourth house. The one that Severus, the only of the boys she actually knew very well, had been a part of.

"Come, Petunia, let's talk to Mum and Dad before dinner begins," Lily dragged her sister away before Petunia could ask the question they could all see poised on her lips.

"Merlin," Sirius breathed out. "Just thinking about how to answer what I knew was coming fucking sucks."

"Your brother," Snape said carefully, "he's looking for a way out." Sirius' eyes flew from the floor to stare into Severus' black eyes.

"He get afraid? Scared of killing people? Scared of all that Dark shit you Death Eaters do?" There was an angry fire in Sirius' eyes. His jaw was set and he looked ready to punch the next person who spoke to him. Remus placed a calming hand on Sirius' nearest forearm.

"No, he's grown jaded with the life," Severus explained calmly. "He's starting to realize that there was only one person in the family who got it right." The calculating black eyes settled pointedly on grey ones.

"Andromeda got it right, too," Sirius muttered darkly. "Took the bastard long enough to figure it out." He tried to shake his arm free of the werewolf's tight grip; Remus had enough experience with Sirius to know that he was unpredictable when his family was mentioned.

"If Black wants to slug me, that's perfectly okay, Lupin. He has every right to. I broached a sensitive topic and I was prepared for the worst." Snape watched the werewolf reluctantly release Sirius' arm. Sirius surprised them all by calmly grabbing Remus' hand.

"S'all right," Sirius muttered. "If the little bastard really wants out, he'll come talk to me." He turned, flashed a mischievous grin at Severus and said, "You can tell him I said that, by the way, Snivelly." He then ran off, cackling madly and dragging Remus with him, to avoid the former Slytherin's wrath.

"I should go too," Peter squeaked and followed the two canines to the table set aside for the wedding party and all close guests.

"Congratulations, James," Severus offered quietly. "I'm sure the two of you will be immensely happy."

"Thanks, Severus," James replied. It was the first time they'd used each other's given names since they'd split. It was a happy moment, but then, James' day had been filled with happy moments.

Hours later, after much dancing had been done and alcohol consumed, Sirius stood and got everyone's attention. "I'd like to raise as toast to the new Mr. and Mrs. Potter!" he cried to much applause. "Apparently they're really popular around here." There was a collective laugh.

"I've known James Andrew Potter for a good nine years now and I would just like to say that he's my brother in all but blood. We've laughed together, we've cried together, we've gotten detention together. James and I have always been each other's wingmen and we'd support each other through any and everything.

"I remember the first time James ever met Lily," Sirius decided that this was a tale that all, including James' new wife, should hear. "I had only known James for a good fourty minutes at that point, having met boarding the train to Hogwarts, but we were already the best of friends. We'd known Remus for twenty minutes by then and Peter for thirteen.

"When Lily and Snape walked into our compartment, asking if we had any available seats, James, poor sap that he is, just laughed. He told them that I was allergic to sneers, which Snape had been doing the whole time, but said that Lily was by all means welcome to sit with the four of us.

"Lily and James got into the first of their many shouting matches that day on the train. It was a beautiful moment. And, as soon as the compartment door slid shut as Lily and Snape left, James proudly proclaimed 'I'm gonna marry that girl someday!'. It's funny. None of us believed him." Sirius looked down at the happy couple before continuing his speech.

"Now that we know how these two met and how James fell in love, I can tell you all some of James' more embarrassing stories. We'll start with the fact that he asked Lily out everyday for the next six years of his life. One time, in a fit of rage, Evans-- excuse me, James will hex me if I call her that again-- Lily gave James donkey ears and said, 'There. Now you really _are_ an ass.'" The crowd chuckled.

"And James, ever the loyal friend, always helped us out of a pickle. Whenever Remus was in the Hospital Wing, which was often considering how sickly the boy is, James would suggest we go to visit the poor fellow. Whenever Peter was having trouble in a class, James would suggest we all help him raise his grades. Whenever I was in a mood after receiving word from my _family_," Sirius sneered at this word, "James would suggest they all cheer me up.

"And now, whenever Lily's in one of her terrible, red-headed moods, James is the one who comforts her and calms her down. Take good care of him Lily and he'll take good care of you. He's loyal to the very end." There was loud cheering.

"Yeah, yeah, now I'm moving back into the sappy bits." Sirius smiled annoyedly at the crowd. "When James and Lily finally started dating, I think me and the boys finally did a cheer. There would be no more ridiculous plans to grab her attention, no more dragging James too the Hospital Wing or a spare room to reverse a curse.

"Of course, little did we know, Lily was going to steal our James away from us. She did it slowly, so we hardly noticed. Hell, I didn't notice precisely what she'd done until today! But no worries, Lily, we won't try to steal him back and we won't be bitter about it. All you have to do is let us visit him every once in a while, stir up some trouble.

"You two, you stay in love, you hear? I don't think I could tolerate the world if even a couple like the two of you couldn't stay together. I have one last thing to say to you all, and I swear to Merlin, I've got something in my eye again." The crowd chuckled as Sirius wiped at his eyes. "It doesn't matter if the Death Eaters swoop in two weeks from now or if you die a hundred years from now, all old and wrinkly; the two of you lived full, happy lives and you're sure to make it to a better place." There was loud applause and cheering as Sirius sat down.

"Thank you for not embarrassing him too much," Lily leaned over James to whisper. "And thank you for not making that speech about you."

"I was already the center of attention; everyone's eyes were on me." This got Sirius a slap upside the head from the two men sitting next to him (James and Remus). "Besides, darling, this is your day. Wouldn't want to ruin it or you'll hex me too."

"You called me James through the whole thing," James smiled, one of four people to understand the depth of that.

"Don't you go soft on me, Potter, or I'll transfigure you into a goat and send you to Aberforth as a gift," Sirius threatened jokingly.

"Aberforth hates you. He'd send me right back," James replied easily. "So cool your jets, _Snuffles."_

_"Would you two stop bickering?" Lily scowled at the two of them. "I'd like to remember this night as special and happy."_

_"Yes ma'am," the two chorused._

_"Now James, I'd like to ask permission to dance with your bride," Sirius turned and said very properly to James._

_"But of course, Sirius," James replied, matching his tone. "Don't step on her toes, though, as she's a rather vindictive dance partner."_

_"Well if you plan to dance with Moony, be careful. He's not vindictive, he's just a really bad dancer. And he needs a strong lead." Sirius smirked, kissed his boyfriend soundly on the lips, and then dragged Lily to the dance floor._

_"No offence, Moony, but I'd rather dance with my new sister-in-law. Come on, Petunia, let's show that sister of yours and that mutt how to really cut the rug." Remus just laughed as James dragged a slightly amused Petunia to the dance floor. Vernon, Petunia's fiancé just glared at James._

_"No worries, mate," Remus said to the large man. "James loves Lily too much to get handsy with her sister. In fact, he'd probably molest Sirius before he would Petunia."_

_"I'm sure," Vernon replied dryly, downing his champagne then heading off to the bar._

_"Remus, sweetheart, would you oblige me with a dance?" James' mother asked Remus._

_"Why of course, Mrs. Potter," the werewolf replied with a smile._

_Out on the dance floor, the Evans sisters were having very interesting conversations with their current dance partners._

_"Hey Evans, can I still call you Evans when Prongs isn't around?" Sirius asked, a smirk on his face._

_"Only so long as I can still call you Black whenever I please," Lily countered._

_"Have fun while it lasts, Evans. Soon, you'll only be able to call me that in secret as well. I'm practically your brother-in-law." He wore his impish grin._

_"Perhaps I'll dance with Remus next," Lily mused. _

_"He'll tread on your toes," Sirius warned. "He's all calm and composed but he's quite uncoordinated." Lily let out a tinkling laugh. It was the laugh she knew James melted for._

_"Poor Remus," Lily giggled. "Lucky he has you."_

_"I suppose I'm rather graceful, aren't I?" Sirius asked, wearing a huge grin. "I should be a dance instructor. Merlin knows I took enough dance lessons when I was younger to teach one or two."_

_"Pureblood thing?" Lily asked. Sirius nodded. "You know, you're much taller than James. It's odd to dance with someone else."_

_"I'm built differently, as well," Sirius replied, off-handedly. "He's broader and bulkier. Alas, I'm just a pretty boy." Sirius sighed dramatically._

_"I suppose your height makes dancing with Remus easier," she replied. "He's taller than James but still a good couple inches shorter than you."_

_"Well, it makes it easier for me too lead, I suppose." Sirius looked thoughtful. "But he's lanky and all muscle and no control. There's a reason we don't go out dancing, and it's not because of the stares we'd get."_

_"Because we all know you love getting stares," Lily replied with a laugh._

_At the same time, the following conversation passed between Petunia and James._

_"A little awkward, isn't it," James said smiling. Petunia just nodded. "I figured if my brother was dancing with Lils, I might as well dance with her sister. Moony would comment on the symmetry of it."_

_"You lot seem to have a lot of names for each other," Petunia pointed out. "It gets rather confusing."_

_"Well, I'm James Potter," she rolled her eyes at this, "but the boys will often call me Prongs. Sirius is the only one stupid enough to call me Prongsie. Then there's Sirius Black, my best friend and surrogate brother. We call him Padfoot. Remus Lupin, Sirius' boyfriend and the only sensible one of us, often gets called Moony. Last, there's Petter Pettigrew, who we will call by any variation of his name or his nickname Wormtail."_

_"That's a lot to take in," Petunia replied. "You and Black, that's what Lily always calls him, talk a lot about how you're practically brothers. What's that all about?"_

_"I assume that earlier, Lily told you that Sirius wasn't so fond of his family, comprised mostly of Slytherins." Petunia nodded. "Well, the boys and I had to show Sirius what real family life was like. Eventually, we all became a family. _

_"When we were, oh, around sixteen, Sirius finally got fed up with his family. He never told me the details but I think it had something to do with an insult match between him and his little brother where his parents only punished him… I don't really know. All I do know is that they stepped over the line. Anyways, it was summer break, and Sirius had nowhere to go so he came here. My mother took him in, no questions asked, and that's when we started calling each other brothers."_

_"That's dreadful," Petunia muttered. "It makes me think that I probably shouldn't have called Lily all those names." She closed her eyes sadly._

_"There's a difference, though, Petunia," James said, trying to cheer her up. "First, and foremost, Sirius grew up hating his parents ideals and standards where you and Lily grew up in a fantastic home. Second, Lily always had the support of your parents and, deep down, you. She knew you were mostly jealous. Sirius never had the support of his parents. But then, the man was born a rebel, so it's not entirely surprising. I'm not saying what you did is right; I'm just saying that, no matter what, we're all better people for it."_

_"That Sirius does seem fairly happy," Petunia said thoughtfully._

_"I'd go so far as to say he's downright gay," James said with a wink._

_"I heard that, Prongsie!" Sirius cried. Moments later, the two pairs were dancing side-by-side._

_"You know you love me," James replied, a smirk on his face._

_"I'll be arsed if I know why though," Sirius muttered darkly. The girls laughed._

_Hours later, once most everyone had left, there sat five men and two women, chatting happily._

_"You know, Lily, your husband is a much better dancer than Vernon. Our wedding's in a month, he's been taking lessons for two, and he still treads on my feet constantly," Petunia declared._

_"Ah, that, my dear girl, is the pure blood for you," Sirius said, slurring slightly._

_"Are you flirting with women again, Pads?" Remus asked. He was, at this point, so tired that he was curled up against Sirius._

_"No, no, the lovely Miss Evans has an engagement ring," Sirius clarified. "You know I'm just a friendly drunk."_

_"Wasn't that how you two got together?" James asked. He was admiring both his own and Lily's wedding bands._

_"No, we got together because I confessed my love to Moony after he accused me of being indiscriminant towards sexual partners," Sirius explained._

_"Why does Padfoot's vo-voca-- word bank ex-expan-- get bigger when he's ine-ineb-- drunk?" Peter asked. His own vocabulary rather shrunk when he wasn't sober._

_"He'll likely say it's because he's holding back when he's sober, to make you lot feel less inferior," Snape remarked dryly._

_"Snivelly's right. I'm entirely too profound for your mortal minds. Only Moony can understand how truly gargantuan my vocabulary is," Sirius proclaimed proudly._

_"It's a behemoth," Remus agreed, forgetting two things as he said this. 1) that it was never good to stroke Sirius' ego and 2) that Sirius was fond of making innuendos no matter his mental state._

_"There's something else that's a behemoth, love, but then, you already knew that." Sirius wore a fiendish smirk._

_"That's gross, Sirius. There are straight people around," Peter cried indignantly._

_"You're the only one here who doesn't fancy boys," Sirius countered easily._

_"Mmm, but I've got me a wife," James pointed out. "So that comment was half-gross in that respect."_

_"I ought to go," Severus said, deciding to end that line of conversation before it turned into one of the Marauders' infamous drunken brawls. "I have to get up early in the morning and pack."_

_"What for?" Lily asked curiously. She was leaning against James and he had an arm wrapped protectively around her. Somehow, the seven had all ended up sitting on the floor against a wall._

_"The Dark Lord is sending me on a mission. I'll be gone for a few months," he replied. "I apologize that I won't be back when you return from your honeymoon."_

_"It's all right. You must stop by our new place in Godric's Hollow, though, when you do return," Lily insisted. "And I would write but I don't think your Death Eater friends would appreciate that." They shared a smile. Severus assured Lily and James with his eyes that he would do what he could to sabotage what he was supposed to be doing._

_"I suppose I should be getting on as well," Petunia muttered. "I've a dress fitting tomorrow morning."_

_"Have fun, Petunia," Lily smiled knowingly at her sister, knowing how difficult planning a wedding, no matter how small, could be._

_"You have fun on you honeymoon," Petunia smiled back at her sister. "Love you," she said, kissing her younger sister's cheek, and then heading off to call for a cab._

_"And then, the four former Gryffindors sat like it was any old night in the Common Room," Sirius narrated._

_"Except it wasn't any of the nights," Remus added sadly._

_"No pranks had been planned," James put in._

_"The alcohol had been legally obtained and consumed," Peter joined in._

_"And it was not Lily Evans who sat in their midst, but Lily Potter," Lily ruefully added to the narrative._

_"The next morning they'd wake up, remember a war was on and the Potters would be gallivanting off in some foreign country, thinking not of their comrades left behind," Sirius continued._

_"The next morning, McGonagall wouldn't be shouting at them for something stupid they'd done." Remus closed his eyes sadly as he leaned against Sirius._

_"And there would be no shared laughs between Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs." James ran a hand through Lily's hair._

_"Wormtail and Padfoot would go to their respective jobs. Moony would be out looking for a flat to share with Padfoot. And Lily and Prongs, they'd be basking in the sunlight in lands unknown to the other three." Peter sighed loudly._

_"But, at the end of the day they'd know that someday, someway, it'd all turn out okay. That somehow, somewhere, they'd sit like this again, and everything would be like the old days," Lily finished._

_The five got up, helped each other to find their feet and headed off in different directions. Sirius was loudly shouting about ravaging his Moony no matter how sleepy the werewolf was. Peter was shouting his goodbyes to the other four, wishing the Potters a safe trip and telling Remus and Sirius that he'd be by in a few days for the Sunday night dinner that they always shared. James and Lily were heading up to James' room, the last time he planned to sleep in that room for a long time, calling off a thanks to Peter and a 'shut up' to Sirius._


	4. Siblings and Significant Others

**A/N: Sorry that this is late… I really should have updated almost a week ago. I have up to chapter 8 finished (and chapter 9 is started) but only up to chapter 7 has corrections made. So you've got at least three (or six, if things go like this all the time) weeks of this ready to go. The 'asshole' bit (stolen from Hancock) was written by Conscience. I thought it was so funny that I included it! The bit about the Marauders (sans Peter) on the roof is actually from a one-shot that my sister and I wrote together (though never posted). If you want to read it, send me a message telling me. If enough people do, I'll post it. Con(science) didn't know that the phrase 'couldn't be arsed' is interchangeable for 'couldn't be bothered' (she commented on how she didn't know you could make arse into a verb…) so I thought I'd point it out for those of you who hadn't heard the phrase either.**

_DISCLAIMER: The characters are Jo's. I just kidnap them from time to time and make them do things that, while not _bad_ per se, are fairly outrageous and would probably make Jo… angry? I dunno. Whatever the emotion she felt, it would not be a good one._

When James and Lily returned from their honeymoon, it was to bad news. Lily found out that Martha had died on a mission while they were away. They had made it home in time for the funeral and attended. Lily had cried that whole week.

Then, a few weeks later, they had attended Petunia's wedding. Lily had danced with Vernon at the reception, explaining what she'd do to him if he ever hurt her big sister. At the same time, James danced with Petunia telling her that she should let bygones be bygones and that he wanted their families to be close. Petunia smiled brightly and nodded, saying that she really did love her little sister, after all.

About a week after Vernon and Petunia returned from their own honeymoon, Petunia had driven over to the Potter household in a rush and announced that she was pregnant. Little more than a month later, Lily announced the same thing.

And so, with the Christmas season but a few weeks away, James found himself standing in the kitchen with his three best friends, watching in horror as Lily and Petunia made plans, yet again, for their children and what best friends they would be.

"That, my dear Prongsie, is why I'm not with a woman," Sirius pointed out with a smirk.

"I could down a fertility potion and you'd be in the same boat," Remus remarked. Sirius visibly paled, which was a difficult thing to do with the complexion of a Black.

"Annabel doesn't want kids," Peter stated. "She says she wants to focus on her career."

"She just doesn't fancy your genes in her child," Sirius teased the shortest Marauder.

"They're better genes than yours." James shot Sirius a challenging look. "At least his kid isn't destined to be an asshole."

"Call him that _one more time_," threatened Sirius, becoming defensive.

"Ass--"

"Wipe," interjected Remus, smirking.

Sirius scowled like a child deprived of his victory in a wild game of Hide-and-Go-Seek.

"James has a point," Remus pointed out.

"Nah, my kids'll be just like Moony. I'll lock them up in the library together and let them out for meals and bathroom breaks… and Moony for full moons, I suppose."

"You'll do no such thing, Sirius Ian Black!" Remus protested loudly.

"Well if you insist," Sirius replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Is Annabel coming over for dinner?" James asked. "I heard Vernon is." James wasn't too fond of the man but he put up with him for Lily's and Petunia's sakes.

"I can Floo her now and see if she wants to," Peter chirped happily. Though the two had been dating for a few months, Peter hadn't yet been able to get Annabel to meet the Marauders all at once. In fact, now that he thought about it, Annabel hadn't even met Lily or Remus yet.

"Go ahead. The hearth's all yours," James gestured to the fireplace.

"What is he doing?" Petunia asked when Peter grabbed some powder, threw it down, and stuck his head in the fireplace. "And wasn't there a fire going?"

"It's called Floo Powder," Lily explained. "When you throw it down, it will transport you to where you want to go. You must be clear about it though. Peter's just firecalling someone right now though. That's when you just stick your head in.

"How will he get out if his head's in another place?" Petunia looked worried.

"No worries," Sirius said. "He loses his head all the time."

"Not funny, Pads," Remus remarked coldly.

"Yeah, that was terrible," James agreed.

"It could use some work," Lily tried to help.

"All this wizardry nonsense is rather confusing," Petunia said with a scowl.

"That's what I thought at first," Lily admitted.

"We grew up with the stuff," Sirius wore a grin. "In fact, I hear Prongsie's family owns one of the broomstick companies."

"Mum's side owns the Cleansweeps," James muttered humbly. "But I only ride a Cleansweep because they've got the best broom out right now. If some other company put out a better one I'd probably buy that." James shrugged.

"Interesting," was all Petunia said. "What time is dinner? I should call Vernon and tell him when he should come over."

"Didn't you drive?" Remus asked, the only one of the three men in the conversation to understand much about muggle transportation.

"No, Vernon dropped me off on his way to work," Petunia explained.

"Dinner's at seven," Lily informed her sister. "You can use our phone; it's in the kitchen." Petunia pushed past the men who were standing in the doorway and made her way to the telephone.

"Annabel says she'll come over as soon as work's finished. I'll have to pick her up and side-along her," Peter explained.

"All right boys, let's go out and fly for a bit," James said with a smirk. Sirius heartily agreed if his cry of 'YEAH!' was anything to go by. Remus, who'd never been much for flying, just shrugged, deciding it was for the best. Peter looked nervous at best but decided that it would be easier to just go along with the other three. They hadn't steered him wrong (well, too wrong) just yet.

"Guys, this is Annabel," Peter introduced later, when he brought her into James' and Lily's cottage. "Annabel, I think you know James and Sirius but that's Remus and that's Lily, James' wife. That's Petunia, Lily's sister and Vernon, Petunia's husband." Peter pointed out all the faces.

"Oh my, there's such a lot of you," Annabel looked at them all wide-eyed. She was petite, no more than 5'2" and had a bob of blonde hair. She didn't look like anything spectacular but the boys figured that she made Peter happy so looks didn't really matter.

"Hey Annabel, did Petey tell you that Moony, in all his glorious beauty, is mine all mine?" Sirius asked with a smirk. He did like to make an impression.

"Which one's Moony?" Annabel looked confused.

"He means me," Remus replied with a roll of his eyes. "Sirius tends to forget that not everyone has known us for nine years." Annabel nodded slowly.

"Don't worry about them," Lily said, taking Annabel's arm and leading her away from the boys with a soft glare in the direction of James and Sirius. "They're just silly boys. Come on, Petunia. Let's gossip in the kitchen," Lily called for her older sister who drifted past Vernon and followed the red-head.

"So, Vernon, how've you been?" James asked, trying to drum up a conversation.

"The usual," Vernon said gruffly.

"Lily's only a few months pregnant and driving me up the wall with demands," James told the heavy-set man. "How's Petunia been treating you on that front."

"Oh, you know," Vernon said with a sigh.

"That bad, huh?" Sirius plopped down on the opposite end of the couch as Vernon. James, Peter and Remus took the chairs. "I hear it only gets worse."

"Lucky you don't have to deal with it, Black," Vernon remarked.

"Mmm, Moony says I've been flirting with too many women lately. I don't know what the man sees in me, really." Sirius, as insane as it was, was the king of idle chit-chat.

"Stay away from them, mate. Women are bad news," James warned the dog animagus.

"I heard that, James Potter!" Lily called warningly from the kitchen.

"You know I mean it with all the love in the world!" James called back.

"He's right though," Vernon said in a low voice. "They're maddening."

"But worth it, I assume," Remus jumped into the conversation. "For what you do for them, I assume the positives outweigh the negatives." Both James and Vernon just nodded sadly.

"I heard on the grapevine that Severus should be returning home soon," Peter remarked. James turned to look at Peter so fast that he was afraid he'd gotten whiplash for a second.

"Where'd you hear that?" Sirius asked, almost suspiciously.

"You know how I hear things," Peter scowled at Sirius, looking almost defensive.

"Now boys, let's not fight. It's the first time Annabel's ever seen the Marauders together and we do like to make a good impression," Remus chided. Vernon snickered. They all knew he found it funny how motherly Remus was to all of them… and how easily they listened to him. He didn't know, however, that Remus could crush all three of them without batting an eye, thanks to his werewolf-enhanced strength.

"Boys! Dinner's ready!" Lily called, her voice coming, this time, from the dining room.

They ate in relative silence, James and Sirius being the only two who really did much talking. Of course, they intimidated Annabel well enough on their own, sharing in jokes that no one else got and recalling stories of stunts they'd pulled in Hogwarts.

"You remember that time Wormy got lost for a whole day?" James asked Sirius with mirth in his eyes.

"Oh yeah, when me, you and Moony were on the roof but Peter was nowhere to be found, right?" Sirius asked, recalling the exact event.

"No, it was you three who got lost," Peter butted in. "McGonagall had me help her search the whole castle for you three. Then, when we're having our lunch break, you three waltz in like you hadn't been missing for nearly a day." He scowled at them.

"How _did_ we get up there?" Remus asked the question they'd never quite been able to answer.

"How _did_ you get down?" Peter asked, like he always asked when they told this story. He'd never gotten an answer either.

"Mmm, Moony, now I've got a craving for ham and swiss on rye," Sirius moaned.

"Is your stomach all you ever think about, Black?" Lily asked with a scowl.

"I think about other parts of my anatomy as well," he replied. The entire table (minus Annabel, who didn't know Sirius very well) groaned. "And I'm obsessive about my hair. Tell them how much time I spend on my hair, Moony."

"Hours. We know." James sounded exasperated.

"And you always have to fix your hair at the least convenient times," Peter moaned.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Vernon looked confused.

"Those four shared a dorm at our boarding school for seven years," Lily explained. "One bathroom for the four of them is, apparently, not enough."

"Sirius and James always used all the hot water, too," Remus complained.

"I always offered to share my shower with you." Sirius grinned flirtatiously at the werewolf.

"The point of a shower is getting clean, Padfoot," James sighed.

"My brother Lucas is dating a boy," Annabel tried to join the conversation. "Mum and Dad say it must be just a phase but Lucas says he's in love with the boy."

"I'm sure my mum threw a right fit when she found out I was seeing a boy," Sirius said with a devilish grin.

"You don't know?" Annabel looked confused.

"I haven't seen my mother since I was sixteen. I didn't start seeing Moony until after I left that god-awful place." Sirius shrugged. "I recently wrote her a letter, though, telling her about my darling boyfriend. I only wish I could have seen her face as she read it." Sirius looked downright evil as he said this. Annabel just nodded. If Sirius hadn't been wearing a short-sleeved shirt, bearing his blank forearms for the world to see, she would have wondered if he was a Death Eater.

"Didn't my mum give you a hug when you told her about us?" Remus asked Sirius, who nodded.

"And James' mum told us not to shag unless we were in my room and the door was locked and the room well warded so no one could hear us," Sirius grinned impishly. "Then she told me to do the dishes."

"Mrs. Potter is an amazing woman," Remus said with a nod.

"You're all jealous because she's my mum and no one else's!" James cried, being spectacularly selfish.

"HAH! Mrs. P thinks of me as a second son. She's practically my mum too," Sirius replied, sticking out his tongue.

"That's what you get, James, for interfering with Sirius' spotlight," Peter chided.

"I suppose we'll leave the mutt to his childishness," James said with a shrug.

"Peter, your friends are so silly!" Annabel cried. By this time, Remus was sitting back, shaking his head sadly, James and Sirius were glowering at each other playfully, Peter was watching in amusement with a little horror just to be safe, Lily was muttering 'I can't believe I married into this mess' to herself over and over, Petunia was stifling giggles, Vernon was continuing his meal like nothing going on and Annabel was just looking on in amazement.

"Why thank you, Peter's girlfriend!" Sirius cried happily.

"I'm quite sure he remembers your name," Remus assured the girl, "though he's probably trying to look cool by pretending he doesn't."

The dinner went on in this manner until Petunia announced that she was tired and needed to go to bed immediately. She and Vernon said their goodbyes before driving off. Not long after, Annabel announced she had to get up for work the next morning and so she and Peter left. Finally, James was about to tell Sirius to get the hell out of his house when the mutt announced that he had to ravage his darling werewolf that night and left with a mischievous grin.

Lily and James did the dishes and were about to head off to bed when they heard a knock at the door.

"James, could you get that?" Lily asked, looking extremely tired. "I really just want to go to bed." He nodded and kissed his wife goodnight before heading to the door.

"I'm coming!" he called to the impatient person knocking his door. "Oh, hullo Severus," he said and stood aside to let the taller man in.

"Where's Lily?" Snape asked curiously.

"She just headed off to bed," James replied.

"Honey, is that Severus downstairs?" he heard her call. She sounded excited and more awake than she had been a moment ago.

"Yeah, it is," he called back. She rushed back down the stairs, throwing a bathrobe over her nightgown.

Severus saw only a flurry of red before he found himself being hugged by Lily Potter. "It's good to see you too, Lily," he said, patting her on the back awkwardly.

"It's as if you like hugging him more than you like hugging me," James pouted. Lily earnestly pulled away to stand next to her husband. "Anything in particular you wanted, Snape?" he asked.

"I would have come tomorrow, seeing how it's so late," he said. "But I have urgent news."

"Let's hear it," James said, preparing himself for the worst. Severus quickly set wards up around the three before he told them anything.

"I've found out who the spy within the Order is," Severus started slowly.

"Well who is it?" James asked impatiently.

"You're not going to like this," he warned but the couple urged him to continue. "It's Pettigrew."

"You can't be serious!" Lily cried. "Not little Peter!"

"Yes, little Peter," Severus said angrily. "I was shocked myself but I know it to be true. I saw him at a meeting. I told Dumbledore as soon as I found out, provided him with the memory, actually, but he told me to wait to tell the both of you until I got back." Severus seemed angry.

"But he was here tonight for dinner!" Lily cried, unable to believe the boy they'd all spent so much time with had gone astray.

"And he had that cute little girlfriend, Annabel, too," James muttered. "She seemed like a nice girl."

"She got on with Sirius fairly well," Lily admitted.

"Which is more than anyone can hope for," Snape joined the conversation.

"He told her about his family and this only the second time he's met her," James added. Severus looked astonished.

"Be that as it may, Pettigrew is still the spy. His girlfriend could be a saint and he'd still be the spy." Severus looked sad that he had to bring this news to them.

"Does this mean I can tell Pads that you're on our side?" James asked excitedly.

"Pettigrew might not be the only spy the Dark Lord has within the Order's ranks," Severus replied. James scowled. "But Dumbledore has told me that the mangy mutts are allowed to know about my standing." The taller man sighed but both James and Lily looked extraordinarily happy.

"I have two things to tell you," Lily stated matter-of-factly. "One, I'm pregnant. Two, you're coming to dinner tomorrow night." She fixed him with her most intimidating glower.

"One, congratulations," Severus said, matching her tone. "And two, I'd be honored."

The next day was Sirius' day off and he couldn't be arsed to get out of bed. He had been working some random job in muggle London (James had called him crazy for doing a muggle job but Sirius didn't mind) and had been working a weird shift. He had Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays off but worked the rest of the week.

Sirius lying in bed meant that Remus was the one sitting at the table, drinking coffee and reading the _Prophet_ when there was a fateful knock on the door. "Moony, could you get that!" Sirius called from their room. Remus rolled his eyes, already halfway toward the door.

Remus heard Sirius' feet hit the floor as he opened the door and saw a rather familiar shade of grey eyes and a rather familiar color of dark hair on the young man standing in front of him.

"Hello Remus," Regulus Black greeted the werewolf. "Is Sirius there?" What was disconcerting-- well, more disconcerting than his boyfriend's estranged brother standing at their door-- was that Regulus had called him Remus. It had always been Lupin when they were at school. Remus made a note that the boy was trying to be civil.

"Moony, who is it at the…" Sirius trailed off when, as he stood behind Remus, he saw his little brother.

"Severus said that talking to you would be proof that I wanted out," Regulus looked at the floor in shame.

"Look, Reggie-- hey, look at me--" Sirius growled, "I want to hear it from your mouth, in your words, why you think that shit's wrong." His grey eyes were hard and set but he was willing to listen to the kid. That was enough for Remus.

"Perhaps you should invite him in, Sirius," Remus said quietly. "This could be a long story." Sirius growled but did as he was told.

As Sirius was sitting down to talk to his younger brother, an owl-- James' owl-- flew in the window and dropped a letter in front of him before flying off again. "Hold on," Sirius muttered as he carefully opened the letter to James' messy scrawl.

_Padfoot and Moony,_

_Severus came back last night. Big news to discuss. Come for dinner. Peter's busy so don't even think about asking._

_Prongs._

Sirius threw the letter to Remus who took it, the _Prophet_ and his coffee and headed to the bedroom, deciding to give the boys some semblance of privacy.

"Mum was absolutely livid when she got your letter," Regulus started out with. His face pulled into a grin, "It was wicked."

"Prongs thought I was mad. She thought Mum would send her pack of harpies-- we're convinced she's got a pack of harpies-- after me for that." Sirius grinned, knowing his letter had gotten the exact response he'd wanted.

"She was going to try and take you out of the will and grew even more furious when she found out she couldn't." Regulus' grin grew wider. "When she kicks it, you get everything."

"What about Dad?" Sirius asked, looking a little confused.

"Died maybe a month or two after I graduated," Regulus explained. Sirius nodded.

"As fun as it is to talk about our hellish parents, I want to know why you're here." Sirius leveled a serious gaze toward his brother.

"You're the only one that's happy," Regulus explained. "Everyone else is miserable and thinks their twisted values will make the world as miserable as they are but you, you're happy. You smile, you laugh, you do things for the hell of it. You've got friends, people you can trust. All they have is their misery and their selfish sense of superiority." Regulus sneered as he said this last bit.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Sirius asked angrily. "How do I know you're not trying to play my weakness and spy on us?"

"Veritaserum. I'll take it," Regulus offered. "Here." He handed his brother a bottle of clear liquid. "It's from Severus. Said you'd know how to make sure it's authentic."

Sirius took it, pulled out his wand, pointed at the bottle and muttered 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'. A blank piece of parchment formed on the bottle before falling off. 'Mischief managed,' Sirius muttered and words formed along the page.

_It's real, Black. I get the feeling that he's telling the truth but I know you won't rest until you have solid proof. Next time you see me, tell me how this meeting went._

The writing was cramped and he knew, from reading it over James' shoulder enough, that it was, in fact, Severus'.

"All right," Sirius sighed. "Take the damn stuff." He tossed the bottle back to the younger Black, who deftly caught it. It was a small bottle and Regulus downed the whole thing.

"So, are you serious about not wanting any part of the Death Eater's life anymore?" Sirius asked his first question.

"Completely," Regulus answered unwaveringly.

"Do you think Mum's completely batty and that she is and always has been a terrible mother?" It was off-topic, Sirius knew, but he wanted to know what his brother thought.

"Now I do. I never really noticed it before but now I see why you hated her." Sirius tried not to look at his brother as he questioned. Regulus' eyes were too wide and innocent. It reminded him when they'd been proper brothers, not just two men with the same parents.

"Do you think that craphead you call a Dark Lord is wrong in his ideals?"

"Yes. Completely and totally," Regulus said vehemently.

"You want to be my little brother again?" Sirius asked, a smile on his face.

"I never stopped being your little brother," Regulus countered. "You just stop wanting to be _my_ big brother."

"You do know what kind of mess you're getting into, right? I mean, James Potter, you remember him, he's my brother in all but blood. You really want two big brothers?" Sirius asked. He figured he'd keep asking nonsense questions until the Veritaserum wore off.

"As long as we have fun. You two are always having fun," Regulus replied.

"You sure you're okay with your big brother sleeping with a werewolf?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah."

"Hey, what was Mum's face like when she got the letter?" Sirius asked, eager to know.

"When she saw it was from you, she scoffed. She opened it, thinking you were asking after money which she didn't plan on giving you. Then, as she red it, her face grew redder and redder until finally she burst out, 'NO SON OF MINE SLEEPS WITH WEREWOLVES!' I figured, with the time it took her, she'd gotten through maybe half the letter so I told her to calm down and finish the letter.

"She sat back down and again, she just got angrier the farther she read. When she finished, she announced 'He's not my son. I'm not related to queers with fleas.' She then _Incendio_'d it. As soon as she went upstairs in a huff, I burst out laughing. I'd never seen her so mad over something so ridiculous."

"I wish I could have been there," Sirius said sadly. "You need a place to stay, kid?" he asked.

"Anything's better than living with that wench any longer," Regulus replied.

"You can stay here with me and Moony. We've got a bedroom we don't need. Moony said he'd keep his books in there but I figure we may as well have them in our room. He loves those books almost as much as he loves me," Sirius remarked with a grin. "You okay with that, Moony?" he asked, not even raising his voice.

"Yes, Sirius," Remus said, coming out of the bedroom.

"You could hear us in there?" Regulus looked baffled.

"He's a werewolf, kid. He's got Super Werewolf Powers." Sirius wore his trademark impish grin.

"You should tell him about your super powers," Remus pointed out.

"All right, but you can't tell anyone, promise?" Sirius asked his brother.

"Promise." Regulus and Sirius both knew that he was still under the Veritaserum so the answer was an honest one.

"I'm an animagus. I turn into a dog." Sirius then demonstrated. When he was a man again, Regulus was wide-eyed with astonishment.

"Does anyone else know about that?" Regulus asked.

"Just James, Lily, Peter and Snivellus," Sirius replied off-handedly. "Although Lily might have told her sister but then, that doesn't really matter since Petunia's a muggle."

"Are we talking Peter Pettigrew?" Regulus asked concernedly.

"Yeah, why?" Sirius watched his brother carefully.

"I have a feeling we're going to find out tonight at dinner with Severus and the Potters," Remus remarked. "Shall I call Lily and see if your brother can come tonight? He'll, most likely, know most of what's going on."

"Go ahead," Sirius gestured to the kitchen, where the phone was. "Those two love having people over for dinner."

"Wanna give me a tour?" Regulus suggested. Sirius shrugged and showed him around the small apartment. He ended on the room Regulus would be using. It had a small, unmade bed in the center and a nightstand with a lamp but otherwise the room was empty.

"It came with the place," Sirius explained. "We haven't needed it yet. Why don't you pop home, get your shit together and pop here," Sirius offered. "And if you want, you could stop in my room and get a few things. I left some of my favorite things in there." He gave his brother a hopeful smile.

"Just make a list. I'll get my own things while I'm waiting," Regulus explained.

"What'll you tell that old harpy?" Sirius asked.

"If she's home, and I suspect she won't be, I'll just tell her that I'm under the Dark Lord's orders to make good with my brother and spy from here." He shrugged. "I've gotten good at lying to the bastard himself. Mum shouldn't be too hard to convince."

"Are you sure you can convincingly lie to him? Snape said at Prongsie's wedding that he was a Legillimens. He said you had to be an Occlumens to avoid that sort of shit." Sirius looked concerned.

"No worries," Regulus assured his brother. "I've got it under control."

"I cannot _believe_ you like that kid more than me," James whined jokingly that night at the dinner table.

"You've got Lily now, Prongsie. I had to find _someone_ to create mischief with," Sirius explained as if the two were breaking up. "It's not that I like him more, it's that I had no other choice."

"Would you two stop being such drama queens?" Remus asked with a roll of his eyes.

"You seem startlingly used to this, Severus," Regulus noted.

"Didn't I tell you I dated James for a few years?" Severus looked surprised at himself.

"You what?!" Regulus was completely shocked. "And none of you are surprised?" he looked around the table.

"I was there, man," James said with a shrug.

"Prongsie never keeps secrets from me," Sirius said with a grin.

"Sirius can't keep secrets from me," Remus shrugged, "even if they're not his own."

"They told me a few months ago," Lily gestured towards James and Snape who both shrugged.

"You didn't tell me shit!" Regulus accused. "How am I supposed to know you didn't keep more secrets from me?"

"You sound like you're married to him or something," Sirius stated.

"No, he was like my older brother while my real older brother wouldn't talk to me," Regulus replied.

"Ouch. Below the belt," James muttered, using a muggle phrase he'd learned from Lily's father. That earned him stares from everyone but Lily and Remus (for the werewolf had read his fair share of muggle books). "You know you're jealous," he said with a mouth full of roast.

"Sounds perfectly plausible to me. I suppose that makes you my surrogate younger brother, Prongsie." Sirius smirked at his best friend.

"You wish!" James replied, and flung a potato at Sirius. Sirius reached for his spoon to fling a pea at James when he felt a strong hand clamp down on his wrist.

"Ow. Moony, you're gonna break it," he whined.

"I will not have you two starting another food fight. You had one Saturday at Peter's and made him clean up the mess when you left." Remus glared at the two.

"Yeah, but it's Prongsie's house and his wife would make _him clean it all up," Sirius whined._

_"I'd make you help, Black," Lily glowered from her chair._

_"Shit! Sirius, don't mess with her!" James cried. "My unborn child is making her all moody."_

_"Probably already taking its godfather's bad example," Remus said with a roll of his eyes. Sirius had insisted on being the godfather of the child as soon as he'd heard Lily was pregnant (which had been two minutes after James had found out)._

_"It's not a bad example, per se," Sirius tried to reason with them. "It's just not the conventional route one takes when one wants a well-behaved kid."_

_"I still can't believe Peter would do something like that," Lily muttered, changing the topic. She didn't want to hear Sirius explain how he was going to warp her poor child's mind._

_"It makes me want to cut the little twerp out of our lives, but we can't really. Then they'd know and things would be all over," Sirius muttered._

_"Well, at least we'll have two spies, right?" Regulus countered. All eyes moved to him. "Well, I figure it's the only way I can help out. Severus said he'd help me prove my loyalties to Dumbledore." He looked a little nervous with all the attention focused on him._

_"Snuffles, your kid brother is way different than you," James said, turning to Sirius. "He doesn't like all eyes on him."_

_"It's a shame, really," Sirius replied. "But then, if he did, he would steal my spotlight."_

_"And we just couldn't have that," Remus muttered sarcastically._


	5. Plots and Pranks

**A/N: It's been way too long. I'm sorry. School has been time consuming and my computer is selective about when it works and when it doesn't… The pregnancy book bit that Lily says? Yeah, stole that from Juno. I have no original ideas in my head. And, of course, this chapter has the obligatory Sirius pun that must be present in any Marauders fic. No matter how many times I hear it, I'm still amused. Yes, I realize it's all rather jumpy and confusing. I can't help it. Read, review (I do so love reviews) do all the fun stuff you always do!**

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of this. If I did, do you really think I'd be using this computer that barely works? No, I wouldn't. I would have a spiffy, new one that's not so fricken SLOW_

"Wait, so we're baby shopping?" Regulus gave Severus an odd look. He found himself standing in a remote section of St. Mungo's Maternity Ward. "Why would we do that?"

"I want a child," Sevreus said like it was something he did everyday. Regulus shook his head.

"Why now? We're not in the most stable of situations," the youngest Black pointed out.

"I want a child," Severus replied. "That's all."

"You know, it could take years for them to give you a child, if at all. Especially considering what you do for a living." Regulus was starting to think the whole world was going crazy on him.

"You're not being the most helpful," Severus scowled. "If I'd wanted criticism, I would had dragged your brother along with me."

"Hey, Sirius isn't that bad," Regulus defended. "Sure he's arrogant and self-centered and an attention hog but at least he admits to it."

"Sometimes I wonder how sane you are, living in a flat with them," Severus muttered.

"Remus is a pretty okay guy. He's quiet and always reading. My brother's the loud one." Regulus shrugged. "And he's usually out at work all day."

"You do realize that could be taken two ways, don't you," Severus pointed out.

"They ward their room, thank Merlin," Regulus replied. "If they didn't, do you really think I would have stayed?"

"Likely you'd say it's better than your mother screeching at you at all hours," Severus responded dryly.

"Let's go to an orphanage, yeah?" Regulus looked hopeful. "Mungo's gives me the creeps."

The month of June had settled happily upon the Potters. Lily had a nephew, whose name was Dudley. Everyday, Lily was getting closer to having her own child to take care of. She was excited. Of course, Alice Longbottom, Lily's friend from the Order, was due the same week as she was. It was all very exciting.

Remus had been spending the days with Lily while James went off to work. He wasn't paid, but he did a lot of work for the Order, which was a payment in itself (though he often grumbled it wasn't). Sirius had moved on to his favorite of all his muggle jobs thus far: working in a candy shop. Peter and Annabel had broken up, though Annabel and Lily had remained friends. Regulus spent his days off 'information gathering' as he liked to call it. Many people assumed that Severus holed himself up in his lab to make potions.

"Good afternoon, Regulus dear," Lily greeted as the boy stepped out of her fireplace. She was slightly resentful as she wasn't allowed to use the normal methods of travel because of her pregnancy.

"Afternoon, Lily," he greeted warmly. "Where's Remus?"

"In the kitchen," she replied. "He's fixing me a snack."

"Thanks," Regulus shot her a smile and then headed into the kitchen. "I've got a problem," he told the werewolf.

"What is it?" Remus was, above all, the levelheaded one of the bunch.

"Severus has been looking to adopt a child," Regulus explained. "And he's found one. She was born a few weeks ago. And he plans to adopt her." Regulus looked fearful.

"Why is this bad?" Remus asked, not quite getting it.

"First of all, Severus isn't exactly the best candidate for fatherhood; the man can hardly take care of himself! Second, I think he's doing it for all the wrong reasons. Third, I don't think he's thought this through enough."

"Severus over-thinks everything," Remus assured the younger man. "I'm sure he put a great deal of thought into this decision. And how could he be doing this for the wrong reasons?"

"I think he's jealous of Lily. _He_ wants to have children with James but he wants James to be happy, and it's all so confusing!" The nineteen-year-old threw his hands up in confusion. He couldn't possibly comprehend why on Earth anyone would want to settle down and have children.

"I think he'd be hard pressed to get the Ministry to allow him to adopt a child," Remus offered the young Black consolation.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Regulus accepted. "But it still worries me. What if he does get that kid and what if, because it's for the wrong reasons, he doesn't love her enough?" It was hard for Remus to hear such rational thoughts come out of someone who looked so similar to the irrational Sirius.

"Something tells me that spending time with us-- Lily, James, Sirius, you and I-- will make certain that the child is loved," Remus said softly. "Although Severus doesn't seem like he'd make a good father, doesn't mean he isn't one."

"I read a pregnancy book that said the man doesn't become a father until they hold the baby. The woman becomes a mother when she gets pregnant," Lily explained. "Now Moony, darling, where's my tea?"

"Lily, darling," Remus said, matching her calm, honey-filled tones, "You've gone off the deep end. You've started calling me by my ridiculous Marauder name." She giggled, realizing what had happened.

"I've been spending far too much time around James," she complained.

"As have we all, Lily, as have we all." Remus smiled a little.

James Potter stood in front of Severus Snape's house thinking about how it hadn't changed a bit since he'd last seen it-- at least on the outside. He knocked quietly, unsure of himself. What had he been thinking, volunteering to tell Snape what had happened at the last Order meeting? Something about that damned twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have made him go slightly mad.

"James?" Severus looked shocked, not having been expecting any company at all. "Come in." James followed Severus to the sitting room and they both sat on opposite ends of a couch James knew well. The two had spent plenty of pleasurable hours on that couch together.

"There was an Order meeting last night," James started. It was awkward, and he didn't quite know how to handle himself. _Sirius would manage to make this more awkward, for entirely different reasons of course, and still be charming_, James thought to himself resentfully.

"I know," Snape replied. He was also feeling quite awkward, though it didn't show on his face quite as much as it did on James'.

James explained, rather quickly, what had gone on the previous night. Snape listened intently to the whole thing. "Oh, and Sirius said that while I was here, I should pick up that salve you made for his burns from the last duel," James added.

Severus nodded and beckoned James to follow him to the potions lab in the basement. He'd never been one for Potions class himself but Severus and Lily seemed to enjoy it. There was every manner of thing bubbling and boiling around him and James just stood astonished for a second; Snape had expanded his practice since James had last seen the lab.

"Here," Severus said, brusquely handing James a jar of what he was sure was salve. "Instructions are written in the usual way. It should respond only to Lupin and Black's wands. I don't trust Regulus around potions anymore."

"Any reason why?" James asked as they headed back up the stairs.

"He used them… _recreationally_ in our youth." Severus chose his words carefully.

"Like muggles with drugs?" James asked, trying to put it in perspective.

"Yes."

James found himself at the door, staring at Severus. "I should go. Lily's driving even Moony up the wall lately," he said, shuffling his feet. He didn't want to leave. He'd always liked Severus' house, Severus' lab, and anything private that Severus had shared with him.

And somehow, though neither did know exactly how it happened, their lips met. This caused them to both grab onto any part of each other they could. They continued the kiss until, at the same moment, both realized what they were doing.

They jumped back, both looking guilty and sheepish, and Severus mumbled an apology.

"I'd better go now," James said, half wishing they hadn't jumped apart. He turned quickly and left, afraid that if he stayed any longer, he'd kiss Severus again.

As James walked through Muggle London (he'd apparated to the Leaky Couldron straight from Snape's house), he told himself that if Lily weren't so very pregnant with their soon to be born child, he'd tell her what had happened. As it was, he couldn't bear the thought of telling her right now, when she was in such a volatile emotional state.

That is how he ended up at Sirius' workplace that afternoon. He stood around, looking at the assorted items that lined the shelves. After getting fired from the candy shop after only a few short weeks there, Sirius had found employment at a muggle junk shop. James wondered if his best friend was intentionally failing at any and every job he worked.

"Yeah, Mr. Connors, I've got this customer," he heard Sirius' voice from the direction of the register. Before he knew it, James heard the canine whisper in his ear, "Don't touch anything you're not willing to buy. This store has a 'You break it, you buy it' policy."

"Padfoot, you smell like kibble," James wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Anything I can help you with, _sir_," Sirius said this loud and, James could tell, mostly for effect. The sir was said almost mockingly, however.

"Sirius, I need to talk to you," James said seriously.

"Shit, it must be bad for you to use my first name," Sirius looked concerned. "What is it?"

"So today, I went to Severus' place to tell him about last night's meeting, right?" James explained quickly.

"Yeah, where's my salve? These burns are a pain in the arse?" Sirius asked, holding out his hand expectantly. James quickly gave him the jar which Sirius pocketed.

"As I was about to leave, I'm standing by the door, and out of nowhere, I'm kissing Severus." James looked concerned.

"Who initiated the kiss?" Sirius asked practically.

"Both of us? I don't know. That's the problem." James was starting to go from concerned to worried faster than he could take off on a broom.

"Tongue or no?" Sirius continued his practical streak. If there was one thing Sirius Black was an expert on, it was kissing.

"No. We sprung apart before that could happen," James replied.

"Did you like it?" Sirius seemed amused by all this.

"It was kissing, Padfoot. Of course I liked it!" James cried in a whisper. He didn't want Sirius' boss to hear the conversation.

"But, I mean, was it like 'Oh, kissing, this is nice' or 'Man, I love kissing Snivelly'?" Practical Sirius was back again (A rare occurance, to say the least).

"The second, I think," James said, taking his head in his hands.

"You're royally fucked, mate," Sirius said, rather amused. "You going to tell Lily?"

"I probably would if she weren't so enormously pregnant," James said.

"I wouldn't use that wording around her if I were you," Sirius smirked. "Well, Snape should probably leave you alone about it, considering." Sirius shrugged.

"Sirius, why'd he have to go and be good again?" James asked sadly. "When he was evil, I could just go on saying that he made the decision but now… now I'm not so sure what I want."

"We've had conversations like this before," Sirius scowled seriously at his friend. "You never know which one to pick."

"Sirius!" his boss called from the back. "Are you making a sale?"

"Yeah Mr. Connors!" Sirius called back as cheerfully as he could. "Now you have to buy something." Sirius fixed him with a glare.

"I don't have any muggle money," James said with a scowl.

"Find what you want. I'll convert it for you," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Now, you needn't pick this time, James. You and Lily are married. You're having a kid. There's no choice, when you look at it that way." James just nodded dumbly before grabbing a vase and heading to the register.

Sirius looked at the tag while they were walking towards the back of the shop and muttered, "Five galleons, twelve sickles." James passed over the coins and was handed some muggle money in return.

"Lovely purchase," Mr. Connors remarked as Sirius rang James' vase up. "Is it for anyone special?"

"Figured I'd give it to my mother-in-law full of flowers or something like that," James shrugged.

"You look a little young to be married," the man pointed out. "You can't be older than Sirius here."

"He's younger by a couple months," Sirius replied smirking. "We went to school together," he added as explanation.

"I'm twenty," James huffed. "That's old enough to be married."

"Legally," Mr. Connors added. "Most young marriages don't last." Sirius let out a snort. "Something funny, Sirius?"

"James knew when he was eleven that he was going to marry his wife. I'm pretty sure his relationship has staying power." Sirius just smiled and wrapped up James' purchase.

"Now you just need to find your mate a girl," Mr. Connors remarked good-naturedly.

"Sirius is seeing someone right now," James informed.

"That's funny. He told me he wasn't really looking for anybody lately." Mr. Connors scowled.

"That's because he's been seeing the same person for, what is it now, four years?"

"Shut it, Potter, and get out," Sirius glowered at his friend.

"Lily wants you, Remus and Regulus over for dinner tonight. No exceptions," James said as he left.

"Will Snivellus be there?" Sirius called as James was at the door.

"Can't make any promises," James answered, the bell tinkling as he left.

"Do you lot ever eat at home?" Petunia scowled as she bounced her son Dudley on her hip, trying to get him to stop wailing. Sirius stood before her grinning. Remus and Regulus were rolling their eyes at him. "And who is the bloke that looks like Black?"

"That would be Padfoot's little brother, Regulus," James introduced. "They recently made up after a rather nasty spat. You know how little Sirius cares for his blood relatives."

"Hey, Andie and Nymphie are awesome," Sirius defended.

"Andromeda and _who_?" Regulus asked, looking perplexed.

"Nymphadora, her daughter. I call the kid Nymphie though. She hates it. Hates her full name too. Ted and Andie call her Dora." Sirius smirked, obviously pleased that he could annoy little girls just as well as anybody else.

"How have you not met Regulus yet?" Lily asked, leaning back lazily in her chair, resting her hands on her swollen stomach.

"I'm not sure," Petunia replied. "Though it could be because of this little bugger." She gestured toward her son. "The way it's going, Vernon and I are going to spoil him rotten."

"Well, he can come play with his little cousin whenever he wants," Lily stated decisively. "Merlin knows James and Sirius will not only spoil the kid but infect it's brain with bad ideas." She shot her husband and his best friend, who were huddled in a corner whispering enthusiastically, a glare.

"What could be so important that they need to keep it secret from the rest of us?" Petunia, who was at her wit's end taking care of little baby Dudley, was short-tempered that night, to say the least.

"Probably plotting mayhem, as always," Regulus muttered.

"They never stop," Remus added.

"It's as if they're addicted to pranking," Lily said distastefully.

"They do this often then?" Vernon looked surprised.

"As long as we've known them," Remus and Lily said together.

"Even before he started Hogwarts, Sirius had an affinity for getting in trouble," Regulus added. "His accidental magic was almost all to mess with Mum."

"Why am I not surprised," Lily muttered darkly.

"Because it's Sirius," Remus replied. Moments later, the werewolf sprouted rabbit ears. Petunia chuckled, Lily shook her head, Regulus muttered 'lame' and Vernon roared with laughter. "What did they do?"

"You've got bunny ears," Lily replied, only slightly amused.

"It's a time-release, isn't it?" Remus asked without turning around. He could sense that Sirius was right behind him.

"Well, if you know the counter-jinx then it's a pointless prank," Sirius informed with a shrug. "And we had to hit someone who wouldn't go berserk on us-- no offence Lily, but mini-Potter has made you difficult to deal with at the best of times." The dog animagus wore a smirk.

"Petunia and Vernon are muggles, so obviously they'd flip," James added. "And we're still not sure where we stand with Mr. Toujours Pur."

"Gee, thanks for the nickname, James," Regulus muttered sarcastically.

"No problem, kid," James just smiled.

"Why do you always call me kid? I'm not that much younger than any of you," Regulus scowled.

"Raise your hand if you've made any monumentally stupid decisions since we graduated," James challenged the room. Regulus raised his hand impatiently and Sirius slowly raised his hand.

"What did you do _now_?" Remus asked him, shaking his head.

"Well it was a really pretty bike," Sirius said, looking ashamed.

"You bought a motorbike!?" Remus cried. "I told you they're dangerous when someone _responsible_ is riding!"

"Charmed it to fly, too," Sirius looked smug.

"_That's illegal_!" Lily and Remus cried together.

"Good one, Padfoot." James was fighting to control his laughter.

"Oh yeah?! Well Prongs is letting me keep it in his shed!" Sirius pointed an accusing finger.

"James? You're encouraging this?" Lily scowled at her husband.

"He hasn't ridden it yet," James mumbled. "And besides! It doesn't even work!" James shot Sirius a look that clearly said 'Don't drag me into this argument'.

"I think we should go see this bike," Vernon announced. Lily and Remus glowered at him but he seemed immune. "I know a bit about cars."

"It's a bike, Vernon," Petunia pointed out.

"Maybe my knowledge can be of use," Vernon countered calmly. "I know a little about motors." James and Sirius shrugged before leading Vernon out to the shed. Regulus followed curiously and Remus decided he'd follow to maybe yell at Sirius some more.

"Sirius, I get the feeling you're not getting laid tonight," Regulus informed his brother with a smirk.

"You think Moony's that mad?" Sirius looked back at the fuming werewolf.

"Yeah mate, I'd say he is," James informed, looking back as well. "This is almost as bad as the time we stole his last bar of chocolate."

"Are you serious?" Sirius looked scared.

"No, you are," James joked.

"What about that time you almost killed Severus?" Regulus asked. "Where's that on the scale of how angry Remus is?"

"That event doesn't strictly exist," Sirius said delicately. "It exists in the fact that I nearly got Snape killed but it doesn't exist in the fact that we don't talk about the fight."

"The way I heard it, you were all responsible for that incident. Why does Sirius take all the blame?" Regulus scowled.

"Because it's all Sirius' fault," James replied easily. "We all know that. He knows that. In fact, he _told_ us not to let anybody but him take the blame. It might have something to do with Remus' never ending spiral of self-pity."

"It has everything to do with Remus' self-pity problems!" Sirius cried angrily.

"What are we talking about?" Vernon asked interestedly.

"Stuff that happened at school," Remus snapped. They all stood in front of the shed by this point. Sirius and James hesitantly opened the doors.

"That… is a pile of junk," Vernon declared ceremoniously.

"Don't say that about Suzette!" Sirius cried and cradled a part he wasn't sure the function of. "She's beautiful!"

"In a destroyed sort of way," Remus looked a little less worried.

"Well I'm putting her back together. There was a mishap with the charms I tried to put on her. She was formerly beautiful in every sense of the word."

"The only woman Sirius ever loved," James shook his head sadly.

"That's probably a good thing for womankind," Regulus looked shocked.

"Well, womankind loves Sirius. Sirius just doesn't love back," Remus explained.

"We Blacks are pretty boys!" Sirius cried, slinging an arm around his brother's neck. "Does ickle Reggie love womankind? Or is it unrequited as it is in my book… for the most part."

"I like girls," Regulus replied, looking slightly afraid of his brother.

"As I feared," Sirius shook his head sadly. "Well, no matter. With looks like ours, you shouldn't have trouble finding a woman to have and to hold you like Prongsie and Vernon have. They're not nearly as handsome as us."

"Vernon could probably kill you without blinking an eye, Padfoot." James wouldn't admit it (out loud) that he was afraid of his brother-in-law. He was though. The man could crush him without a thought.

"Yeah, but I bet he'd feel remorse," Regulus muttered.

"Aww! Reggie!" Sirius then hugged his little brother.

"Sirius, I can't breathe." Regulus tried to shove the dog animagus away. "How the hell are you that strong?" he asked, once free.

"Well, I _was_ Gryffindor's star beater for four years," Sirius smirked proudly. "And I have to contend with Moony's awesome strength." He just shrugged.

"What he's neglecting to tell you is that he also works odd muggle jobs that usually involve heavy lifting," James added. "Like big boxes on shelves. He loaded trucks for a couple weeks, even."

"Can't hold down a job?" Vernon looked shocked.

"My employers don't seem to like my sunny disposition and youthful spirit," Sirius shrugged. "It's my award-winning charm that gets me the job in the first place. When I get bored, my charm goes away."

"Award-winning? Since when have you won awards with your charm?" Regulus looked amused.

"I was Hogwarts' Most Charming Bachelor three years running." Sirius shrugged again. "It would've been four if I hadn't been caught kissing Moony in about every place possible our seventh year."

"Didn't little Reggie win that year?" James asked. Regulus nodded.

"Apparently I'm just people's replacement for my big brother."

"Nah, you're charming in your own right," Sirius assured. "For no one can achieve my particular brand of charm besides me."

"Black, do you have any idea what you're doing, reassembling this thing?" Vernon asked, looking at a part that no one could have named.

"Well… not really, no," Sirius admitted. "But that's never stopped me before. I even bought a book!"

"Gasp! Sirius bought a book!" Remus exclaimed in mock horror. The three Marauders present then burst into a fit of giggles.

"I'm going to assume this is a momentous occasion and we shouldn't stop their celebrating," Regulus remarked to Vernon. Neither could rip their eyes from the three men giggling before them. Vernon just nodded soundlessly.

"Now really. Pull yourself together, men," Remus said, trying to bring himself under control. This just made them laugh more, however.

"Don't worry, boys. This can't be that bad," James said around laughter. "I'm sure the book has pictures."

"It does!" Sirius cried proudly. "Oh, that was an insult…" he noticed when Remus and James laughed harder at that. "I've read books without pictures!"

"Over Moony's shoulder," James agreed. "But not because you wanted to. You just wanted Moony's attention and, since you read faster than him, you'd ruin bits for him."

"Well yeah," Sirius replied, rolling his eyes. "Books are boring."

"No they're not!" Remus cried angrily.

"BOYS!" they heard Petunia screech. "YOU NEED TO GET IN HERE _NOW_!"

They all ran back into the house and into the living room where Lily and Petunia were. "I'm having the baby." Lily looked pained.

"Sirius, call Mungo's," James ordered. "Are you going to be okay, darling?" James asked concernedly, grabbing her hand which she immediately took in a death grip.

"I will be _fine_ when your child kindly gets out of my uterus," Lily stated through gritted teeth.

"When the Mungo's team gets here, Remus, Petunia, Sirius and I will go with Lily. Vernon, you'll take Dudley home. Regulus, you call Severus and I'll send someone along to get the two of you, if either of you want to come that is, when I can," James ordered. Everyone nodded and Lily even managed a small smile for her husband, thinking she really had picked him well.

After everyone left, Regulus called Severus who said he'd be along in a few minutes; he had potions to stabilize. The house was oddly quiet. Having never been alone in the Potter's house, Regulus was used to it being full of noise, whether that noise was Lily's muggle record player, James' clunking around the place, Remus flipping pages, Sirius turning the house upside-down, half for his own amusement and half to piss Lily off, Petunia fixing a meal in the kitchen, Vernon looking for his wife or Dudley wailing. Regulus found it difficult to sit and listen to the clock on the wall ticking.

When Severus finally arrived, Regulus was trying (and failing) to get the record player working. "Regulus," Snape greeted somewhat coldly.

"Oh get over yourself, Severus," Regulus replied, trying to figure out why someone would record monkeys… or misspell monkeys, even. "James is happy with Lily. You should have seen his face when he found out Lily was in labor."

"You wouldn't like the Monkees," Severus deftly ignored the accurate reading of his feelings. "Does she have any Pink Floyd?"

"She was complaining about Sirius leaving something pink in her record collection, now that you mention it," Regulus muttered. "Honestly though, who wants to listen to a recording of monkeys?"

"It's a pop band," Severus muttered dryly. "And Pink Floyd is a rock band; your brother _would_ like them." He stood next to Regulus and flicked through the records before pulling one out and putting it on the player. Somehow, Regulus wasn't quite sure how, Severus got the record playing. All of a sudden, the room was filled with haunting music.

"Reg, Sniv," Sirius' voice came from the fireplace. "Prongs says to call Wormy and let him know about mini-Potter's escape from the red-headed she-devil. Oh, and, for your own personal enjoyment, Lily's curses would make sailors blush." With a smirk, Sirius' head vanished.

"Curses? She's spelling the staff to blush?" Regulus looked confused.

"It's a muggle phrase," Severus explained calmly. "It means that she's swearing badly. Although, it also implies she's being original. Your brother must have learned it to distance himself from the family."

"Maybe initially," Regulus conceded. "But I think now he's so far distanced from that that he uses it because he's used to it."

"I don't know how to reach Pettigrew," Severus got them back on track. Regulus grimaced. The few times he'd been around Peter since his reunion with his brother hadn't been pleasant. Peter knew Regulus was, for all appearances, still a loyal Death Eater and Regulus knew that Peter was a Death Eater as well. Despite his evil acquaintances, though, Peter was protective of the only friends he'd known in school.

Regulus went into the kitchen and picked up the telephone. It was the only way he knew how to reach Pettigrew. It rang for a while before he heard, "Hello, you've reached Peter Pettigrew. I'm out right now but leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can." There was a pause and Regulus hung up before it could beep and he would need to leave a message.

Next, Regulus dialed Annabel's house, wondering if she'd know where Peter was. She answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Annabel, it's Regulus. Is Peter there?" He had met the woman as many times as Peter but liked her infinitely better.

"Yes. Let me get him. It'll be but a moment," she said cheerily before there was a clunk and her calling for Peter at a distance.

"Hello?"

"Lily's in labor," Regulus stated, cutting straight to the chase. "Severus and I are at her and James' place waiting for someone to come get us to see mini-Potter. You can come and wait with us if you like. I'm sure Annabel is welcome as well."

"We'll be over right away," Peter stated tersely and hung up.

Moments later, an exuberant Annabel and a pale-looking Peter stepped out of the Potter's fireplace. "Did Sirius leave the record player playing again?" Peter scowled. He'd never much cared for Sirius' taste in music.

"No. The house was too quiet when Severus and I were the only ones here," Regulus explained. "Don't you like it?"

"No."

"Is this muggle music?" Annabel asked. "I've never really listened to the stuff."

"Nor have I. Severus picked the album out for me." Regulus shrugged. Sirius then stumbled out of the fireplace.

"How very rude," he scowled, brushing himself off. "All I was doing was encouraging the Lilster."

"Hello Sirius," Annabel greeted.

"Hello Annabel." Sirius was immediately calm and collected. He was acting as if he _hadn't just tumbled out of the fireplace shouting at the medi-witches who had kicked him out._

_"How much longer?" Peter asked. He wasn't exactly very knowledgeable about childbirth._

_"The medi-witches and healers were saying it'd be a few hours and that I should just go out in the waiting room with Moony while Prongs and Petunia helped Lily out." Sirius shrugged. "I just wanted to see Prongsie's face when he saw his kid for the first time."_

_A few hours later (Severus continued to play records that he said Regulus would like-- Regulus suspected Severus had selfish motives) Remus stepped neatly out of the fireplace. "James just popped out and said he would have a child within a few minutes," he said calmly. They all jumped up and went to the fireplace, Flooing to St. Mungo's one at a time._

_They stood in the waiting room a few more minutes when James came bounding out, a large grin on his face. "I have a son!" he cried triumphantly._

_"Mini-Potter is born!" Sirius ran over to James and initiated a hug. Both were blissfully unaware of the odd looks they were getting in the waiting room. "Can I meet him?" Sirius asked once they broke the hug. James ushered them all to follow him._

_Once in the room, they saw an exhausted looking Lily holding a baby wrapped in blue blankets. He was quietly waving his little arms around. "His name is Harry James Potter," Lily said softly. Then, in a more stern voice, she said, "There will be no more calling him mini-Potter, Sirius."_

_"But Lily," Sirius whined._

_"Let it be, Sirius," Remus put a hand on his boyfriend's arm. "It's nice to meet you, Harry," he said, leaning over the cute little thing._

_"I'm going to go call our parents," James told his wife, who nodded quietly. He then swiftly left the hospital room._

_"He's so tiny," Peter muttered in astonishment._

_"The maternity ward is the only place in a hospital I can stand," Annabel murmured softly as she took one of Baby Harry's hands. "It's the only place where life prevails over death."_

_"Can I hold him, Lily? Please?" Sirius was bouncing up and down._

_"Be careful with my baby, Sirius," Lily scowled as she handed her bundle of joy to him. He cradled the child lovingly._

_"Ah, little Harry," he spoke softly to the child. "You're going to drive your mother up the wall with all the things I teach you."_

_"Hopefully Baby Harry won't listen to Sirius," Remus muttered._

_"The rest of us don't," Regulus joked. Everyone laughed except Sirius, who was busy telling Harry about the fun of getting in trouble, and Harry, who didn't understand._

_Severus stared at the child being passed around. Lily watched Severus with concern. He was watching Harry sadly, longingly. "Severus," Lily called softly. Her child had made her more nuturing in the few minutes he'd been alive._

_Severus sat down next to Lily with a questioning look. "What's wrong?" She asked. "You don't look happy like everyone else. Even Regulus, who doesn't know most of us very well, is overjoyed to see Baby Harry."_

_"It's nothing," Severus replied. He was saved from further scrutiny by James' parents showing up._

_"Alice! Rudolph!" Lily cried happily._

_"I hear I have a grandson," Mrs. Potter stated, getting straight down to business. "Where is he?"_

_"Regulus is holding him right now," Sirius informed her, bouncing over. "Did Prongsie tell you I'm going to be the godfather?"_

_"Regulus? Isn't that your brother?" Mrs. Potter was a bit behind the times. With James and Lily married, the boys didn't stop by very often anymore._

_"Yeah. We made up." Sirius wore a broad grin. "Kid! Bring mini-Potter over to meet his Grandmum," Sirius called to his brother. Regulus rolled his eyes but brought Harry over anyways._

_"His name is Harry James Potter," Sirius told her. "I think he takes after me."_

_"If my grandson takes after you, there'll be hell to pay," Mrs. Potter shot Sirius a slight glare as she rocked Harry in her arms._

_"Looks just like James when he was a baby," Mr. Potter said quietly._

_"Lily!" Mrs. Evans cried. Mr. Evans followed his wife into the room. "Where is my grandbaby?" James made his way in after his father-in-law._

_"Mum has him," James replied, noticing that his mother did, in fact, have his son in her hands. Mrs. Evans rushed over to Mrs. Potter and the two chattered happily about their grandson. The grandfathers just stood by the door conversing quietly. James went to the bed and sat alongside his wife, holding her close. _

_And then, it all went to hell. At the same time, Regulus swore loudly, Severus grasped his left forearm tightly with his right hand and Peter paled and was shaking a little. Regulus and Severus left quickly, hugging Lily but giving no explanation. Everyone knew why they were leaving. Peter waited a few moments before muttering that he really should get home as he had work in the morning. He kissed Annabel, hugged Lily as well, and then left with great haste._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Right, I know it's been way too long and I'm sorry… but I promise I'll try to be better about getting these chapters out, I really will (I always say that… you probably don't believe me). Anyways, my current beta, Conscience, has gotten all bogged down with school and whatnot so I kind of need a new one. If you want to help out, drop me a PM. If not… well, that really sucks. Anyways, I've got the next chapter beta-ed but after that, I really do need a new beta. I think that's all I have for this one… oh, and I should probably remind you lot how much I love reviews.**

_DISCLAIMER__: Still don't own it, guys. If I did, do you think I'd be writing here? Actually, I probably would. I'm such a dork…_

Harry squealed gleefully as his father tossed him into the air. It was a Saturday and the two were home together while Lily was out doing the shopping and running errands.

"Don't drop my godson," Sirius stated as he walked into the Potter home without knocking. He looked odd, wearing muggle jeans and a black t-shirt with a prism on it, but James was used to weird with Sirius. "Harry will, hopefully, get Lily's brains and not yours. If you drop him, there's no hope." James scowled at his best friend.

"Why are you here?" James asked, setting Harry down to play with his toys.

"You know the big meeting tonight?" Sirius asked. James rolled his eyes and nodded. "Well, can you see if your mum would be willing to 'babysit' my little brother tonight?" He looked hopeful.

"I'll see. She might be mad though. Petunia's got dibs on Baby Harry tonight." James just shrugged.

"Just tell her you're socializing him. I mean, Dudley will be there, after all."

"You're coming with me. You've got my mum wrapped around your little finger. She absolutely adores you," James insisted. Sirius just shrugged.

"Moony and Regulus will be along in a few minutes because I knew you'd say yes and I knew you'd need a babysitter for a few minutes-- that's Moony-- and your mum will likely want to inspect my little brother-- that's Reggie." Sirius grinned.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" James sighed, shaking his head at Sirius.

"You're the bigger idiot, mate," Sirius replied easily. "Women nag and you're married to one."

"You'll never get over that, will you?" James asked, sighing. Sirius shrugged as Remus and Regulus walked in.

"Where is Harry?" Remus asked, getting straight to business. James pointed to where the baby was kicking his feet at the toys hanging above him. "They're not teaching you bad things, are they, Harry?" Remus asked, sitting next to the child. "Because if they are, so help me, I will do very bad things to them… and then let your mummy have a go." He said this all in a cheery voice, directed at Baby Harry.

"So why am I being 'babysat' by Mrs. Potter again?" Regulus asked. He still wasn't quite sure on the details.

"Well that's easy!" Sirius exclaimed happily. "Your front is that you're pretending to like me again to try and worm secrets out for Lord Dumbbutt. But I, being the intelligent being that I am, don't trust you. I know my little brother after all, so I'm very careful about Order secrets. Of course, I also don't trust to you enough to leave you alone in my house for a few hours unattended. And, my front for this meeting is a big blowout with all my old friends from school at an undisclosed location. So, of course, I would be too incapacitated when I returned home to stop you from snooping around my house. Thus, I decided you needed to be watched."

"Wow, Padfoot," James looked astonished. "That's probably one of the most confusing things I've ever heard you say."

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Sirius asked mischievously. Remus groaned.

"You lot go now, please," he ordered. "I don't want to deal with Sirius when he's like this." The other three left, leaving Remus with Harry.

"MUM!" James called loudly.

"MRS. P!" Sirius called just as loudly.

"Boys!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed, coming into the foyer where the boys stood. "I was never properly introduced to your brother, Sirius," she chided.

"Ah, Mrs. P, this is my little brother Regulus. Regulus, this is Mrs. Potter, James' mum." Sirius watched the reaction between the two.

"Now, why are you here?" She looked suspicious. She knew the expressions that James and Sirius were wearing meant that they could only want something.

"Well, see, the thing is we have a really important Order meeting tonight," James told his mother.

"Do you want me to watch my grandson?" she asked, looking excited.

"No, Petunia's watching him tonight," James explained carefully.

"We were wondering if you could keep an eye on Regulus," Sirius explained with a broad grin.

"Why?" Mrs. Potter looked confused.

"Because Regulus is a spy for the Order, so he has to keep up appearances for He-Who-Has-A-Big-Head." Sirius was cheerful throughout his explanation.

"And why would you pick Petunia to watch your child over me, James Andrew Potter?" Mrs. Potter turned on her son.

"Petunia offered," James stated meekly. "And she has her own son about Harry's age. We're socializing them."

"You didn't even think to ask me, you mean," Mrs. Potter gazed sternly at him. Regulus was in shock. Even McGonagall hadn't managed to strike this much fear into these two. Sirius had yet to butt in and make a crack at James, which was highly uncharacteristic, and James was letting Mrs. Potter walk all over him.

"I'm sorry!" James cried. "I didn't think to ask you, but I promise I will next time!"

"I'm sorry these boys are so terrible, Regulus. I've tried to set them straight but they resist all my attempts." Mrs. Potter shook her head sadly.

"You do better than anyone I've ever seen," Regulus looked shocked. "Barring Lily with James and Remus with Sirius, of course," he amended. "Those two are whipped."

"WE ARE NOT!" the two Marauders in question shouted indignantly.

"Now boys, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Mrs. Potter tried to calm them. "Now Regulus dear, what time will you be by tonight?"

"He'll be by for dinner," James replied quickly. "I left Harry with Remus so we should be getting back."

"James Potter, you should _not_ be afraid to leave your son with a werewolf. You know full well that it's new moon tonight." Mrs. Potter scowled at her son.

"Actually, I didn't," James replied earnestly.

"It's not, though. New moon is tomorrow," Sirius replied.

"You only count so you know what day you get to have hot dog sex," James accused.

"So what if I'm a horny little mutt?" Sirius asked. "It's perfectly normal for a man my age. Reggie has been sleeping with different girls all week."

"Why am I not surprised?" James asked.

"Because he's my brother?" Sirius guessed.

"That's probably it," James admitted.

"I'll see you tonight, Regulus," Mrs. Potter smiled warmly. She then shoved the three out the door, where they apparated back to James' house.

"I can definitely see why you like her better than Mum," Regulus said to his brother, who nodded.

"You're all jealous. You wish you had a mum like mine," James boasted.

"No," Lily said. Apparently she'd gotten home in the few minutes they'd been gone. "I'm sure you all wish you had a mother like Harry has." Her son was, at that very moment, balanced happily on her hip. He was reaching for her red hair.

"No, I don't think I'd like a mum like you." Sirius looked slightly scared at the prospect. "You've got an odd fixation with the rules." After a rather stunning display of anger and dramatics, Sirius, Remus and Regulus left the Potters to have a family day. James was spending most of his time either at his job (cooking at a muggle restaurant with a bunch of teenagers) or helping out for the Order and the boys thought that he needed some time with his wife and son.

The boys were sitting in their living room-- Remus reading; Sirius sprawled across the couch, head in Remus' lap, talking to no one in particular about how fabulous he was; Regulus idly sketching (a hobby of his)-- when there was knock at the door. Regulus hopped up to answer it, realizing that Sirius was too lazy to answer and Remus was hindered by Sirius being on top of him.

"Hi Regulus," the girl said flirtatiously. She lived a few apartments down and they'd been flirting since Regulus had moved in. She didn't even know that he shared the flat with his brother and Remus. "Who are they?"

As Regulus scanned his brain for her name, Sirius whined loudly, "Moony, you're not paying enough attention to me."

"You were just saying that my book couldn't possibly be as entertaining as your rousing conversation," Remus replied off-handedly.

"Melissa," he said, finally remembering her name, "that's my brother Sirius and his boyfriend Remus," Regulus introduced.

"Your brother is beautiful," she replied in awe.

"Many have said that," Sirius remarked, hopping to his feet. "They were right, of course, but my beauty can be a hindrance at the best of times. Regulus got lucky. He's just beautiful enough to be appreciated but not so very beautiful that he cannot be attained by your average woman."

"And what kind of woman does it take to attain you?" she asked, the flirtatious tone moving to Sirius. Regulus sighed. So much for this one.

"Alas, not a woman on this planet could attain me now," Sirius stated dramatically. "And there is only one man for which it is possible." Remus snorted, and bookmarked his place.

"Sirius, do be serious," Remus remarked dryly.

"But I am!" he cried. "My name is still Sirius. Well, it was, last I checked." Sirius wore a large smirk.

"I meant that you shouldn't be so very ridiculous." The werewolf sighed.

"Would you like to come in, Melissa?" Regulus offered.

"Thanks," she replied, not taking her eyes off the canines. "They're quite the pair."

"I often say that Remus is the peanut butter to my jelly," Sirius replied. "What flavor jelly am I, Moony darling?"

"Hmm?" Remus asked playfully. "I wasn't listening. Your idiocy has astounded me once again."

"Come, Moony. Let us retire to the bedroom where we won't be a hindrance to my young brother and his quest for love," Sirius declared, yanking the werewolf off the couch and dragging him down the hall to their bedroom.

"So, what are you doing tonight, Regulus?" Melissa batted her eyes at him. She was quite attractive, dark curls and large blue eyes along with her perfect figure. Regulus was somewhat shocked she even gave him the time of day. Then again, he was only slightly less beautiful than his brother.

"I'm actually busy tonight," Regulus remarked sadly. "Tomorrow night, however, I'm perfectly free."

"Really? I'm free tomorrow night as well. What a coincidence." She wore a coy smile.

"Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night then?" he asked in amusement.

"Pick me up at eight," she ordered. "And I expect it to be a nice restaurant." With that, she turned and left.

"Ah, ickle Reggie-kins has a date!" Sirius cried jokingly.

"You're being a prat," Regulus remarked good-naturedly before shutting himself up in his room for the rest of the day.

When he arrived at the Potters', he wasn't looking forward to a night with people he hardly knew. He decided, however, that it was much better than spending it in the company of Death Eaters. His cousin Bella was going insane; there was no way around it.

"Ah, Regulus darling!" Mrs. Potter cried. He was astounded by how accepting she was. Then again, she had taken in his mischief-making brother. What could really be worse than James and Sirius under one roof together?

"Mrs. Potter," he said, somewhat awkwardly. He didn't know what to do, really. She, however, made the decision for him, wrapping him in a tight, motherly embrace. He wasn't used to it by any means (his own mother wasn't much for affection) but he found he didn't mind.

"You're just in time. Supper is just about to begin." Mrs. Potter led him to the dining room where Mr. Potter was sitting at the head of the table. Mrs. Potter sat in her normal place and Regulus sat at the only other place that was set.

"That's not Sirius," Mr. Potter muttered to his wife. "But he looks an awful lot like Sirius."

"Of course he does, Rudy dear," Mrs. Potter chuckled. "It's his little brother, Regulus."

"I thought Sirius didn't get on with his family," Mr. Potter looked puzzled. As they conversed, the food had come to the table. Regulus assumed it was house elves. Things were being passed and served.

"He doesn't, for the most part," Regulus said, a dark edge to his voice.

"Do explain," Mr. Potter looked intrigued. It was the same look his son got when he heard of some spell that he could use for pranking.

"Well, Sirius was always a rebel and hardly listened to Mum and Dad. I followed their instructions out of fear and, the older we got, the more Sirius resented me for it. And then, of course, the family's morals clash with his own, so when he was a Gryffindor over a Slytherin, that was the last straw for Dad. They never spoke after that. He and I taunted each other at school. Mum… well, the last straw for her was his last letter, talking about him and Remus. But his last straw with the lot of us was when he ran off." Regulus scowled at his plate, blaming himself for his brother's grievances with the family.

"When he came here," Mr. Potter said, almost harshly.

"Yeah, I know. You lot are a much better family than he ever got at home and he was lucky to have you," Regulus snapped. Mr. Potter didn't seem to like him much. "I get that my family is wrong on all counts. Do you really think Sirius would let me back in his life if he wasn't sure of my motives?"

"I didn't question you, boy." Mr. Potter scowled at him.

"You were going to," Regulus muttered dejectedly. "May I go to the bathroom?" he looked up at Mrs. Potter, who looked worried for him.

"Of course, dear. Down the hall, third door to your left," she gestured. "James would say 'It's the room with the toilet. Can't miss it.'" She smiled warmly at him. Regulus nodded, set his napkin on the table, and made his way to the bathroom.

"Rudy, darling, don't be so harsh on the boy," Mrs. Potter whispered, well-used to having a werewolf in her house.

"I don't like the lot he's a part of." Mr. Potter scowled.

"He spends most of his time with your son, Rudolph Potter," she said sternly. "And with your son's friends. You approve of those boys, don't you, Rudolph?" It was a rare day when Alice Potter used her husband's full first name, and whenever she did, she meant business.

"Alice," he said in a warning tone.

"Don't you 'Alice' me, Rudolph," she shot her husband a glare. "James and Sirius trust him. That boy has seen more than you or I have. This war has obviously taken a toll on him. Let. Him. Be. There's good in him yet and I'll ask you not to squash it."

Regulus returned, his stormy grey eyes warily observing the scene in front of him. Mr. Potter nodded to his wife as Regulus sat down. "I'm sorry, son, for being so rude," he muttered.

"It's all right." Regulus wore a sad half-smile. "It's not the worst I've dealt with. I just figured that, for all the respect Sirius has for the two of you, you'd be uncannily kind people. It caught me off guard is all."

"Normally, Rudy is very nice," Mrs. Potter said quietly. "And he realizes that he wasn't being very nice to you earlier, either. He's terribly sorry."

"Thank you. Both of you." Regulus gave them a sincere look.

"So, have you seen much of my grandson?" Mrs. Potter asked Regulus. Then, the two launched into a conversation about Baby Harry. Mr. Potter was silent through the rest of the meal.

When Monday morning rolled around, Regulus awoke to an unfamiliar face in his bed. "Oh good, you're awake," she said, relieved. "Forgive me for sounding whorish but I can't, for the life of me, remember your name." She blushed a deep crimson (an easy feat with skin as fair as hers).

"Regulus Black," he replied, slightly muffled by his pillow. "And, forgive me for sounding whorish, but I can't remember your name either."

"Lana Robinson," she replied. "So, Regulus Black, what's for breakfast?" she sent a smirk his way.

"Do you have to work this morning? It _is_ a Monday, after all." He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

"No, I don't work Mondays," she said cryptically.

"Ah, well, follow me to the kitchen, I suppose," he said, rolling out of bed. He threw on a pair of boxers and a pair of jeans while she threw on her clothes from the night before. The two went out to the kitchen to see Remus and Sirius already having breakfast. Remus was sipping coffee, reading the _Prophet_. Sirius was munching down cereal quickly.

Regulus poured himself a mug of coffee and snatched the sports section from Remus' pile of paper. Lana grabbed an apple from the counter and sat down on Regulus' lap. "So, who's the guy who looks scary like you, Regulus?" she asked before taking a loud bite of apple.

"That's my brother Sirius," he replied simply, looking at the week's quidditch match-ups.

"And who's the cute bookish one?" she asked.

"My brother's boyfriend, Remus," Regulus stated, flipping to the article on the previous day's quidditch match.

"Why are they so quiet?" she stared down at Regulus with big doe-eyes. Regulus was starting to faintly remember why he'd picked her up at the pub the previous night.

"We're not morning people," Sirius stated. "This isn't the girl you went out with, Reggie."

"Oh, she said he was insensitive and so she left him at the restaurant before they even ordered their meal," she replied easily. "So he came to the pub where I'd just finished my set, told me his story and, well, one thing led to another…" She smiled sheepishly.

"Regulus you dog!" Sirius cried teasingly.

"You're the dog, Padfoot," Remus muttered unthinkingly. Sirius let out a bark-like laugh. Regulus just chuckled into the sports section.

"I'm missing something," Lana said.

"Sirius is the name of the dog star," Sirius explained, "or Canis Major. It's the brightest star in the sky." He puffed his chest out proudly. She nodded, vaguely comprehending what he was saying.

"Oh my, look at the time!" Lana cried after a glance at the clock. "I'd better go; my roommate will wonder where I've been!" She kissed Regulus on the cheek and waved to the other two as she headed to the door. "Maybe I'll see you around, Regulus," she said before leaving.

"I should go as well. Work calls," Sirius smiled, planted a kiss on Remus' lips, ruffled Regulus' hair, and went off to work.

Regulus finished his breakfast, got dressed and then took his leave as well, going off to Knockturn Alley where he would snoop around for info. When he arrived there, he spotted his cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa in a dark corner. They motioned him over.

"Where've you been staying? Auntie says you moved out," Narcissa scowled at him. Regulus knew both were married and that Narcissa even had a son about Harry's age if he remembered correctly.

"I've been staying with my brother to see if I can get any information from him and his friends," Regulus replied, reverting to the lie he'd been using all the months he'd stayed with his brother.

"Have you gotten much of anything?" Bellatrix had a crazed look in her dark eyes.

"No. Sirius is paranoid," Regulus replied.

"You're excellent at gathering information!" Bella balked. "Our Lord values you for that reason only."

"That did wonders for my ego," Regulus muttered sarcastically. "And my information gathering is limited mostly to wheedling information out of people who aren't the best at keeping secrets. Loose lips sink ships, and all." Regulus shrugged.

Bellatrix scowled at him. "What good are you then?" she screeched. Regulus winced as he was reminded of his mother.

"Bella, we really ought to be leaving," Narcissa muttered.

"Oh shut it, Cissy. I'm not finished crushing the baby yet," she said, her narrowed eyes staring at her younger cousin.

"We really ought to get back. I don't want to leave Draco alone too long with Lucius' mother. She'll corrupt my poor darling."

"The child's only five months old, Cissy," Bella rolled her eyes. "He can hardly be corrupted in one afternoon. Especially at this age."

"Still," Narcissa muttered. "I don't want to risk it." As the sisters fought, Regulus crept away. Somehow, he made it up to Diagon Alley. He sighed, figuring it was for the best, and popped over to the stationary store to look at quills and parchment.

Around that time, Severus was dragging James to an orphanage. "They're letting me adopt this girl," he said excitedly. "Her name is Rose," he continued to explain.

"I haven't seen you this happy in a long time," James said with a smile.

"Regulus has already met her. I wanted you to meet her too. I get to take her home today." To the casual observer, he was just indifferently listing facts. James, however, knew Severus better than that and knew the man was excited.

"Are you going to bring her around to meet Lily and Harry?" James asked

"I've arranged to bring her by tomorrow, while you're at work," he explained. "Apparently, Petunia's bringing Dudley by as well and the three are going to have a playdate."

"Those girls," James sighed. Severus gave a small smile. James stood outside the office of the Ministry-funded orphanage, waiting for Severus to finish filling out the paperwork. A little kid, a girl with curly hair held back by a headband, stared up at him with big pale blue eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Do you know Mr. Snape?"

"Yes, I do," he replied simply.

"He's adopting little Rosie," the girl said. "Her mummy was killed by You-Know-Who. No one knows who her daddy is."

"Mr. Snape's going to be her daddy after today," James reminded her.

"Yeah. He'll make a good daddy. He's very patient. My daddy wasn't patient. That's why Mummy's dead and I'm here." She seemed so calm talking about such things.

"I'm sorry to hear that," James replied. "I hope you find a good mummy and daddy to take care of you too," he added. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Then, she darted off to play with her friends.

About fifteen minutes later, Snape emerged from the office and motioned for James to follow him. "Hullo Mr. Snape! Mr. Snape's Friend," the girl from earlier called.

"I see you've met Louise," Snape remarked quietly.

"She's cute," James replied. "Shame about her parents though."

"You remember Vineridge, right? He was a few years ahead of us, hung around Lucius Malfoy." James nodded. "That's Louise's father."

"I heard he was sent to Azkaban on murder counts but I didn't know he'd killed his wife," James muttered.

"His wife and his mistress. Actually, Louise's mother is the mistress." James just shook his head.

They picked up little Rose and James was astounded by how cute she was. She had dark hair already growing on her head and sapphire blue eyes that stared up at him curiously. They apparated back to Severus' house where he sat down on the couch with Rose.

"You look like a father," James said, staring at Severus happily.

"I don't think I do," Severus replied almost sadly.

"Takes one to know one; you look like a father," James said sternly.

"I suppose you'd know," Severus replied. Rose let out a little yawn.

"You should probably put her down for a nap," James informed Severus, who nodded.

When he returned, he gave James a thankful look. "I have no idea what I'm doing," he admitted.

"Of course you don't," James assured him. "None of us do when we're just starting out. Hell, I've got four months of parenting on you and I still don't have the foggiest as to what I'm doing."

The two stood there staring at each other for a moment and then, somehow, their lips ended up pressed together. They both grasped onto each other with urgency and, just like before, before there could be any tongue involved, the two jumped apart, realizing what they were doing.

"I'm sorry," Severus muttered. "I shouldn't have done that again."

"S'all right," James muttered, wiping his mouth. "I was just as much to blame."

"Did you tell Lily about last time?" Snape looked scared. James shook his head.

"She was so pregnant with Harry, otherwise I probably would have. Told Sirius though." James shrugged. Neither could meet the other's eyes.

"A given," Snape agreed. "Will you tell her this time?"

"I dunno. I'll probably ask Sirius what he thinks I should do," James replied simply.

"I should get back to my potions," Severus murmured. James nodded and turned to take his leave.

"Oh, Severus," James said, remembering something. Snape turned back to look at James. "Louise said that you'd make a good father, and I agree with her."

"You WHAT?!" Sirius asked. James had arrived at the all but empty flat (Remus was visiting his sick father and Regulus was out doing Merlin knows what) and spilled what had just happened to his best friend.

"I couldn't help it!" James cried in defense. "Why does this always happen?"

"Because you're a selfish prat and can't choose who you love," Sirius replied simply.

"What should I do?" James asked.

"I think you should tell Lily," Sirius said. "She deserves to know."

"Yeah," James sighed.

"I think she'll be understanding," Sirius tried to comfort him. James nodded, afraid of what would happen if Sirius was wrong.

After Lily and James put Harry to bed that night, James said, "Lily, I have something important to tell you."

"What is it, James?" she asked, looking afraid.

"Well, I've only been alone with Severus twice since he switched back to our side," James said carefully. "And both times, we ended up… kissing." It was hard for him to say this but, thankfully, he had Gryffindor courage on his side.

"Oh my," Lily said. James couldn't read her expression. "Are you leaving me for him?"

"No!" James cried hastily. "Of course not! Lily, I could never do that to you, let alone, Harry," James assured. Lily nodded.

"But you're still in love with him." It wasn't a question.

"Very much so," James admitted. "I can't help it though. And I love you just as much."

"And Harry?" Lily looked upset.

"Harry is the perfect son and I adore him, Lily. You know that." His hazel eyes were pleading.

"You have no idea what you want," she accused.

"It doesn't matter," he replied. "I married you. We have Harry. There's nothing left to choose."

"I love you, James Potter," Lily said sternly. "Don't you dare break my heart."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Peter," Annabel sobbed. They'd just been in another fight for no reason. Annabel had thought moving in together would bring them closer. Instead, it was driving the two apart.

"Don't be such a baby, Annabel," Peter muttered. "All I do is work all day and I come home and you expect me to clean up the place!"

"I work too, Peter," Annabel cried in outrage. "I don't know if you know this, but I'm very serious about becoming one of the most renowned robe designers." She scowled at him through her tears. "Lady Cassandra works me to the bone every day, just to keep up with demands."

"It's not like I've got it easy either, Annabel." Peter growled dangerously. "I slave away everyday in that office, fetching someone this, or getting them that. It's terrible."

"Then quit," she said. "Become a full time traitor." She was one of the few people that Peter had told about his double life. "I'm sure your friends would appreciate that."

"You don't know anything!" he shouted.

"I'm going to bed!" she cried angrily. "Because you're being a right ass!" With that, she stalked to their bedroom, slammed the door, and locked it. Peter was sleeping on the couch again tonight.

There was a knock at the door, and Remus was the only one who had heard it, meaning he had to get it. Sirius was still asleep (it was 10 and Sirius usually slept until noon on his days off) and Regulus was locked up in his room, brooding or some other such nonsense.

"Where's my son?" the woman in front of him screeched. Both Black boys had heard _that_ and they both popped their bedroom doors open a smidge, sharing a look across the hallway.

"Which one?" Remus asked, remembering Mrs. Black from the few times he'd seen her at King's Cross.

"I only have one son," Mrs. Black replied with contempt. "Or hadn't you heard that my _former_ son is bedding a werewolf."

"Oh, I'd heard that," Remus replied with a smirk. "Just a second." He let Mrs. Black stand in the doorway as he went down the hall.

"No way in hell," Regulus replied before the lycanthrope could even open his mouth. "I'm not dealing with her. Not today."

"I can take care of her!" Sirius cried gleefully. "I do so love to see her angry."

"I've got to see this," Regulus crept down the hallway and stood watching Remus and Sirius.

"Is this the right one?" Remus asked, playing dumb.

"No." Mrs. Black scowled at her eldest son.

"Lo Mum," he said with a cheery grin. "Nice weather."

"Where's my Regulus?" she asked angrily.

"Couldn't be roused from his deep slumber," Sirius replied with ease. "I hear he's waiting for the kiss of a fair maiden to wake."

"I need to speak with Regulus." Mrs. Black glared at the two boys in front of her.

"So, did you get my letter? The one about me and Remus?" Sirius asked, slinging an arm around Remus' shoulders.

"I did," she replied tersely. "No son of mine sleeps with men and no son of mine sleeps with werewolves."

"Now now, Mum," Sirius tutted. "It isn't becoming for a lady to lie. Of course, you're not much of a lady…"

"Sirius! I won't hear such things from you!" Mrs. Black glared angrily at her eldest son, who was grinning his usual impish grin (though it was intensified greatly with his glee).

"I'm allowed to say whatever I like in my flat," Sirius replied sagely. "And it _is my flat. I'm paying the rent."_

_"What about that mutt?" Mrs. Black asked. "And my dear Reggie? Don't they pay for the flat as well?"_

_"I don't make my darling boyfriend pay," Sirius replied simply. "And I won't take money from my little brother. I'm the sole provider in this household." Remus looked slightly ashamed at that, though he couldn't much help it. It was hard, after all, to get work when one was a werewolf._

_"I suppose you're living off that ridiculous inheritance Alphard gave you." Mrs. Black looked as if she'd gained the upper hand in this argument._

_"What? I hardly touched that money," Sirius replied simply. "I used it for the first month's payment of the flat and now I use my own wages. Wages that also go to food and whatnot. I'm not completely useless."_

_"And where have you been working?" Mrs. Black asked tersely._

_"Here and there," Sirius said vaguely. "Mostly Muggle London." He watched her reaction at that. She seemed to swell with anger and looked around the flat wildly. "I saw Regulus over there," she cried. "I did. I did. I did!"_

_Regulus swore quietly under his breath, put on a brave face, and stepped out of the hallway. "Oh, hello Mum."_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Right, so this is the last chapter that's going to be beta'd, unless someone offers to beta for me. I'll likely go over the other chapters on my own and fix my obvious mistakes, but I may miss things. In the chapter, I mention MLE which, for those of you who don't know, is the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It's in speech (Sirius' dialogue, if I'm not mistaken), and so the characters all know what's being said, but you all may not. I have chapters eight through ten finished, but I'm not going to post eight until I get a review or story alert or favorited story for RF. In fact, this is only coming to you because someone recently alerted it. That made me happy.**

_DISCLAIMER:__ What? I don't own Harry Potter and all affiliated characters and whatnot? That's news to me! Please don't send me to jail! I don't wanna die!_

"I can't believe that-- that _cow_ expected me to move home just because her 'condition' was worsening. She's driving herself batty, finally, and can't take it. Doesn't she see that she's driven everyone else away and they can't take her either?" Regulus was scowling at his hands on Lily and James' table.

In the kitchen with him were his brother, James, Remus, and Peter. In the living room, Annabel, Severus, Lily, Harry, and Rose were playing.

"It's been two weeks," Sirius stated, getting fed up of this line of conversation. "Can't you just get over that Mummy loves her baby Reggie best and needs him to be around to hear her malicious ramblings?"

"Tell us how you really feel, Pads," James chuckled, more out of nervousness than anything else. They all knew it was tense with Peter around. They had to watch everything they said.

"I think you ought to give your mum the benefit of the doubt," Peter piped up. Sirius and Regulus swiveled their harsh gaze onto the rat.

"This is the woman that locked me in my room for a week for saying that goodness will always conquer evil when I was five," Sirius said, glaring at what he would have once considered one of his best friends.

"When I had a nightmare about getting the Tickle Charm placed on me so many times I died, she said I ought to make myself less weak," Regulus added.

"And when my stuffed dog, Procyon, was ripped to shreds by the neighbor's cat, she told me it was unbecoming of a little boy to carry stuffed animals around anyways! I was four!"

"When the neighbor lady called me a good for nothing suck up, she told me that I _was_ good for nothing!"

"I think we've heard enough examples for a lifetime, boys," Remus remarked calmly. Both Sirius and Regulus calmed down slightly, both still glaring at Peter.

"Boys, be nice to poor Peter. Annabel tells me he's had a rough couple of days at work," Lily scolded as she opened the oven to check on dinner. Regulus and Sirius walked out of the kitchen muttering, the former about venting to Severus, the latter about playing with his godson and teaching the boy how to properly get in trouble.

"The two have been on edge lately," Remus explained to a slightly terrified Peter. "Regulus is upset because his mother keeps owling him and Sirius is tired of the Death Eaters Regulus spends time with coming over to our flat." Peter just nodded mutely.

"Don't worry yourself, Peter," Lily added. "You know that Sirius is infamous for his moods."

"D'you remember the time fifth year when he was in that giant mood and that second year was so terrified of him, she wouldn't sit in the common room when he was there?" James asked, a nostalgic look on his face.

"Or that time sixth year when the first years were convinced he was possessed, he was so evil?" Remus asked, laughter dancing in his eyes.

"Didn't they try to perform an exorcism, only for him to tell them that he was really a zombie?" Lily looked up from the roast that she was carving.

"Oh yeah!" Peter cried, consoled by the memories. "Or that time seventh year when Moony wouldn't talk to him for a week and he locked himself up in the dorm and the third years were convinced he was a vampire."

"Didn't he eat a whole loaf of garlic bread to prove to them he wasn't, just as soon as Moony was talking to him again?" James laughed.

"And then he decided it was the perfect time to kiss me," Remus added dryly. The four laughed.

"Baby Harry," Sirius whispered to the child he was carrying. "Why are they all laughing? Are they plotting my demise?"

"We were talking about your moods," Peter explained, still a little afraid of Sirius.

"Did you talk about that time sixth year when I made that Slytherin fourth year piss his pants because I was in such a towering rage at Regulus?" Sirius looked amused.

"I'd forgotten about that!" James cried, sharing in Sirius' amusement.

"Would you not talk about such grotesque stories in front of my child?" Lily asked, arms akimbo and lips pursed.

"Lily's right. You two are terrible," Remus added, looking only slightly appalled.

"Was that just the two of you?" Peter asked thoughtfully.

"Might've been," Sirius remarked musingly.

"Must've been," James stated decisively. "If Peter were there, he would've found an escape route before that and if Remus were there, you would've been forced to calm down before you caused someone too much terror or harm," he explained.

"Ah, you must be right. But I seem to remember a third…"

"You know," James mused, "It was probably…"

"Oh, yeah. Duh." Sirius rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. They both knew it was Severus. Surprising that the boy could cause so much fear in his own housemates. "It actually makes more sense that way."

"And yet none at all," James replied.

"No, it makes absolutely no sense," Lily insisted. "You boys are quite ridiculous. I don't see how Remus and Peter can stand to be around you so much."

"But you know you love us," James and Sirius said in unison, both wearing bright grins.

"Before you ask, Lily: Yes, they do practice that." Remus just shook his head.

"Give me my child before he catches your stupid, Sirius." Lily held out her arms and Harry was handed to her. Even he looked at his father and Sirius oddly. "Come Harry, let's put you to bed. It's getting late for my little darling."

"Are Severus and Rose spending the night then?" Remus asked James, who nodded.

"She seems fine with the, you know, thing," Sirius said, not too subtly.

"Honestly!" Remus cried, getting quite fed up with James and Sirius being ridiculous. They couldn't even come up with a subtle way to mention the kiss.

"What is it?" Peter asked interestedly. "Tell me!"

"Come on, Peter. These two are about to become incoherent with terrible allusions. We should leave while we can." Remus all but dragged the boy from the kitchen.

"She's pretty much ignoring it," James shrugged. "Although, I think she really wants some time alone with Severus to talk about it. It's so hard for them to get alone, too," James added. "What with Rose and Harry monopolizing all of their time."

"What do you think she'll say?" Sirius looked concerned for his friend. It was one of his few serious moments.

"I don't know. She'll definitely want to talk it out with him though. All that crap about feelings and whatever else girls like to talk about." James looked glum.

"Are you calling Snape a girl?" Sirius looked amused.

"Didn't we grow out of this by third year?" James grumbled.

"Did we?" Sirius looked like he was considering it. "I didn't grow out of it. I personally find it ridiculously funny."

"Well, that just says that your sense of humor hasn't matured since you were thirteen," James muttered dryly.

"_Did_ I start the sex jokes when I was thirteen?" Sirius looked thoughtful. "No, I was definitely fourteen. So my sense of humor has matured."

"Not by much," James muttered. Sirius hit him good-naturedly.

Later that night, when it was just James, Lily, and Severus left, there was quite the tension in the room. "I ought to go to bed," James muttered, more to get away than anything else. "I've got the breakfast shift tomorrow." He kissed Lily on the cheek, said his goodnights and headed up the stairs.

"I want to talk to you about something, Severus," Lily stated dramatically. "I've been waiting quite awhile to say this, mind, because you're really difficult to get alone." Her green eyes shot him a serious look.

"What is it?" Severus looked concerned.

"I know about that kiss between you and James a couple weeks ago," she said, not meeting his eyes. "And I know you two are still quite in love."

"Lily," Severus started to say but Lily cut him off.

"No, I'm not finished. He's said that he has me and Harry and that's enough but… I fear it's not." Her eyes were full of tears when he looked up.

"He's not going to leave you," Severus said as consolingly as he could. "He's mad about you and he spent six years just getting you to accept his requests for a date. He's not going to give all that up for me."

"And Rose. You have Rose now," Lily added. "And he obviously adores her too."

"But he married you," Severus stated firmly. "And he couldn't love any one person more than he loves Harry. That boy is his world, Lily. And your world too. You share something so very important to both of you. I don't have that."

"You know I'm a very accepting woman, Severus," Lily fixed him with a hard stare. "And I've come up with the only possible solution that would make James happy. We shall share him."

Severus stared in incredulously. "Are-- are you sure?" Severus watched Lily closely. She seemed quite serious and willing to go through with this.

"We both want to see James happy, don't we?" she said, taking his hands in hers. "And he won't be happy so long as we make him choose one or the other."

"But, is this what you really want?" Severus asked her. "I'm not asking about anyone but you."

"Yes." She looked sure too.

"Then we shall," Severus said, sounding more sure than he felt. She hugged him. "How shall we tell him?"

"Ah…" she looked uncertain. "I hadn't thought of that."

"We'll figure it out in the morning," Severus assured and her smile came back brightly.

The next morning, Lily and Severus didn't wake until after James had left (though they did wake when their children woke). They planned the morning away with ways to tell James. They grew increasingly frustrated as no good way came up.

"If only Remus were here," Lily muttered distractedly. Severus quirked an eyebrow. "He was the planner in the Marauders," she explained.

"Makes sense," Severus muttered. "James and Black don't have the patience for it and Pettigrew lacks the brains."

"What are we talking about?" James asked, dropping heavily into a seat at the kitchen table near the two.

"You, sweetie," Lily replied simply. _Screw plans_, she thought, _may as well just let my Gryffindor Courage lead me. Better come in use for something finally._

"What about me?" James looked interested. Much as he hated to admit, he was rather the egomaniac that Lily and Severus had accused him of many a time. He just didn't have as big an ego as Sirius.

"We-- that is, Severus and I-- have decided to share you," she stated calmly.

"Share me," he said calmly, not really understanding. "Like kids with a toy?"

"Precisely!" Lily cried excitedly. "I'm so excited you understand, honey!"

"I'm just a toy?" he looked like he was faking being hurt. He knew, of course, Lily didn't really mean it.

"Oh, I suppose we love you," Lily waved it off as inconsequential. "But honestly, James, what do you think?"

"Are you sure on this?" James asked. "Have you really thought it through? I don't want to hurt either of you."

"We're quite sure," Severus drawled, making eye-contact with James.

"Oh, all right. I suppose you can share me," he replied. "But right now, I'm going to take a shower because I smell like eggs and bacon grease."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "He was working the breakfast shift at a muggle restaurant. He likes that better than the dinner shifts because he doesn't like working with teenagers," she explained.

"I don't see why not," Severus muttered. "He acts like one."

"And he doesn't even need to work a job, especially one like that," Lily added. "But, much as he acts like a teenager, he _knows_ he's different. He's seen battles, what with the war. He's lost friends. He has a wife and a son. He's not a teenager, far from it, and he knows that he can never think like a teenager again."

"Why does he work, if he doesn't have to?" Severus asked.

"Oh, he says that it's a valuable life experience, working a shitty job," Lily replied. "It makes him more normal, he says."

"James Potter will never be normal," Severus stated dryly.

"Well you know that, and I know that, but James doesn't know that. Let's let him have his illusions," Lily shot him a conspiratorial grin.

"The hell are they doing in my flat, Regulus?" Sirius asked one day, upon returning home. He'd just finished work and returned to find his despised cousins and other known Death Eaters in his living room.

"They invited themselves over," Regulus replied grimly. "I've only been trying to get them to leave for hours."

"They'd better get out now," Sirius ground out, shooting them his infamous cold glare. He'd perfected it in his second year and had used it to deal with Slytherins. Most of the recipients were well versed in it but only one (Severus) was immune.

"We won't leave just because you asked, little cousin," Bellatrix said snidely.

"You'll find that I'll be doing more than asking in a minute," Sirius replied simply. "And I know a few people in MLE who would happily let me use dangerous magic here, despite the proximity to muggles."

"We've obviously overstayed our welcome," Snape said calmly.

"You're just afraid he'll humiliate you like he did when we were in school," Bellatrix snapped.

"Bella," Narcissa said, faintly scared.

"You want to go too, Cissy? Afraid of little Sirius with his big morals? Hah! He won't kill you. He's much to _nice_ to do such a thing." Bellatrix's mad eyes met Sirius' calmly cold ones in a challenging stare.

"I'm sure MLE would be happy to catch so many Death Eaters at once," Sirius said. "And I hear dementors are much, _much_ worse than death."

"The Ministry?" Bellatrix laughed. "They're under our thumb."

"The muggle police aren't," Sirius replied simply. "And I know a division in this area made completely of wizards. Precautionary, as it were."

"There's no such thing," Bellatrix stated defiantly.

"How do you know? You know nothing about muggles," Sirius said airily.

"Oh, and what do you know?" one of the men asked.

"Enough." Sirius then walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone.

"You'd better go," Regulus told them all firmly. "I really think he's serious."

"Well of course I'm Sirius," he called out to them. "It's been my name as long as I can remember."

"Sirius," Remus' warning tone came from the doorway.

"Ooh! More things to threaten with!" Sirius squealed happily.

"What in the name of Salazar are you talking about?" the other unnamed man asked.

"Well, Moony and I could do naughty things in front of you." Sirius' impish grin graced his face.

"What are you talking about, Black?" Narcissa asked coldly.

"Remus is my boyfriend," he said simply. "And I know that you're all uncomfortable with that sort of thing," he explained. "You put the rest together. I'm sure your small brains can comprehend that much."

Regulus got up, grabbing a small box out of his pocket and left the flat. Everyone looked confused. "He just up and leaves? The insolent little brat!" Bellatrix raved.

"Come Bella, we'd best get home before our husbands make a fuss."

"They're at work, Cissy," Bellatrix snarled. "And I wanted to maim someone before noon!"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FLAT!" Sirius shouted terrifyingly. The Death Eaters filed out, afraid of this boy with such powerful lungs.

"The neighbors will definitely be talking about this," Remus muttered.

"Sniv didn't really have to leave," Sirius muttered. "I've gotten used to him around lately. And between him and Lily and Harry, it's nearly impossible to get a moment alone with Prongs."

"Yet somehow you two still manage to create mischief," Remus sighed.

"Well yeah. Besides, he got me a job at the restaurant with him. Those teenagers are going to find out about the awesomeness of the Marauders tonight." Sirius was starting his new job (at the restaurant with James) that night and he was excited.

"How many jobs have you gone through?" Remus sighed.

"Enough for the both of us," Sirius replied with a smile.

"Where were you?" Remus asked when Regulus came back in. He just shrugged. Severus followed him in.

"The Lilster watching the kids?" Sirius asked. Severus nodded.

"Did you two know Regulus smokes?" Severus looked stern. Regulus looked abashed. Sirius looked curious. Remus sighed.

"Like… a pipe?" Sirius asked. "Isn't that something old witches do?"

"No, like cigarettes," Severus scowled.

"Wait, wait, is that the same thing as what my last boss called his cancer sticks?" Sirius was growing more and more puzzled as the conversation progressed.

"Yes, Sirius, and they're very bad for the body," Remus explained quietly.

"Why would you do such a thing, Regulus?" Sirius tried to look like he was chiding his brother, even though he still wasn't quite certain of the problem.

"I started a couple years ago, when I first got the Mark. Some guy said it calmed him down and I was nervous, being a Death Eater and all that it entails, so I just started." He shrugged.

"Yes, and you're going to get lung cancer and any number of other horrific muggle diseases," Snape said with distasted.

"I know. I tried to stop, but I need them," Regulus whined.

"Yes, well you're probably addicted by now," Severus drawled. "Lucky you've not been addicted to anything before this."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius looked concerned all at once.

"He _borrowed_ potions and used them _recreationally_," Severus replied with more than mild distaste.

"Like muggle drugs?" Remus asked.

"Precisely." Severus shot a cold look at Regulus who looked more sheepish.

"Muggle drugs are dangerous," Sirius informed them all.

"And you only ever experimented with pot," Remus gave Sirius a scolding look.

"Not quite," Sirius said, a little on edge. Remus' eyes grew harder. "Well, just before I left home, this boy named Robert moved in across the street. He introduced me to hallucinogenic mushrooms."

"I hope you only did them the once." Remus' arms were crossed and he looked more than angry.

"I did. There are circumstances that I refuse to talk about," Sirius stated firmly. "But a few days later I left home. I wasn't so fond of muggle drugs after that."

"You had nearly stopped using by the time I was speaking to you again," Remus agreed.

"Speaking to him?" It was Regulus' turn to look confused.

"The Incident of Which We Do Not Speak," Sirius stated dramatically. He was the one who'd suggested that the incident more than warranted capital letters.

"What?" Regulus was curious what this incident was.

"I'll tell you later," Severus said with a scowl, knowing full well what the two meant.

"I always feel so left out," Regulus pouted. "You all have funny stories that I don't know."

"Yes, well, this one's not funny in the least," Remus growled.

"If you say so," Regulus looked skeptical. He hadn't heard many stories that pertained to his brother that _weren't_ funny. Of course, he usually heard the stories of Sirius' and James' various adventures at school.

"I should go work on those potions I started," Severus stated. "I wouldn't want to impose on Lily any longer than need be."

"Aren't you staying with them now?" Sirius asked. "I mean, it'd be kind of awkward to share James if you weren't."

"They're sharing James?" Remus looked shocked. Regulus was slightly surprised as well.

"Don't they tell you anything?" Sirius' eyebrows shot into his hair, which Remus had been complaining for weeks was growing far too long.

"Apparently not," Remus replied. "Of course, our sources aren't exactly as open as James."

"And you and James are like twins separated at birth," Regulus added.

"Twins of mayhem," Remus agreed.

"Ah mayhem, it's one of my favorites," Sirius said affectionately.

"I do hope you don't love mayhem more than you love me," Remus muttered.

"Moony, there is nothing in this world I love more than you," Sirius proclaimed. "Well, I suppose a good bone comes really, really close."

"Mangy mutt," Snape muttered and Regulus chuckled.

"You've never tasted a t-bone, my friends. I mean, the meat is good, when well cooked--"

"Sirius likes it rare," Remus interjected.

"--But the bone is delicious. It's truly the best part," Sirius finished like he hadn't been interrupted.

"You like rare meat?" Regulus scrunched up his nose.

"Moony does too," Sirius replied. "It's our canine tendencies, shining through."

"Which is probably why Sirius always smells like wet dog after his shower," Remus muttered.

"Well, I really oughtn't leave those potions alone much longer," Severus said firmly. "The stabilization charm will only last so long."

"I should go scouting for information," Regulus added. "It seems I keep getting caught up with people I know too well lately and we just chat. I don't get anything good anymore."

"D'you think they suspect you?" Sirius asked.

"It's more they don't trust me not to slip up around you. Even though they won't admit it, they're very afraid of you, Sirius."

"Pads, you really ought to get ready for working at the diner tonight." Remus' voice had a guiding tone to it.

"And what are you going to do, Moony?"

"If you'll recall, it's two days until the full moon," Remus replied simply. "I'm quite tired."

"And you're ravenously hungry, I'm sure," Sirius added with a grin.

Regulus went out and walked to the Leaky Caldron. Once there, he sat down at the bar and settled in to hear some stories. He ordered a drink and lit a cigarette just as the regulars started showing up. "Regulus," one man said as he sat down next to the boy. "Your mum tells me you're living with your blood traitor brother." It was one of his father's old work friends, he noticed as he took a drag of the cigarette.

"Yeah, information gather, you know," Regulus replied after exhaling the smoke. "It's the only thing I'm good at."

"Nonsense, boy!" the man two seats down said. Regulus knew him only as Mr. Fletcher (Mundungus Fletcher's uncle or something like that). "I'm sure you'd make an excellent salesman. You should join my business. Things are a little slow lately but I'm sure if you joined, they'd pick right up. Pretty girls are always willing to trust a handsome young man." He flashed a devilish grin, revealing a rather incomplete set of teeth.

"Yes, well, I don't think I'd like that work so much," Regulus admitted.

"Most of the Blacks haven't done an honest day's work in their lives!" Mr. Brown (the man who'd worked with Regulus' father) proclaimed loudly.

"That Sirius, the one they disowned, I've seen him wandering around Muggle London," Mr. Fletcher put in.

"Have you now. Wouldn't surprise me. His mother told me he's a little fairy now," Mr. Brown spat. "Unnatural, that."

"I don't know about that," the woman on Regulus' other side stated. "My nephew is queer. His boyfriend's rather nice, actually."

"It's just not right," the man muttered.

"Sirius says that's what they say when they really wish they could be with a man," Regulus piped up.

"And you listen to the little blood traitor?" Mr. Brown raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes he says things worth hearing," Regulus replied evasively.

"Aye, even the most foolish sometimes say something clever by mistake," Mr. Fletcher said.

"You'd know, wouldn't you, Fletcher?" Tom, the barkeep, chuckled. The whole bar laughed after that.

"Oi! Tom!" a man called after just walking in. "How much for your cheapest room for one night?" Regulus faintly recognized him as someone his brother had pointed out as an Order member.

"Why do you ask?" Tom looked suspicious. Just then, the door burst open and two red-haired men walked in boisterously.

"THE PREWETTS ARE BACK IN TOWN!" they cried together, each with an arm slung over the other's shoulders.

"You ruin one of my rooms again and I'll kill the two of you myself, Gideon, Fabian," Tom muttered with a glare.

"Oh Tom, you worry too much!" the one on the left cried with a laugh.

"We're beat, as it is. Just returned from a little trip to America." The one on the right wore a roguish grin.

"Now Fab, we said we wouldn't talk about what happened to us in the States," the one on the left, Gideon, Regulus presumed.

"Right, right. Lindsey did say she'd hunt me down and murder me in my sleep if I so much as mentioned one tiny thing that happened while we were there," Fabian replied.

"5 galleons for the night," Tom told them, tossing a key. "And I expect you to pay this time!" he cried after them as they made their way loudly up the stairs.

"Who were they?" Regulus asked, intrigued.

"Gideon and Fabian Prewett," the woman next to Regulus replied. "Their older sister is married to Arthur Weasley. Those two are known to be obnoxious."

"But they tell one hell of a story," Mr. Fletcher added. "And you can't help but be drawn in by them. They're quite the characters."

"Like that brother of yours used to be." Mr. Brown looked like he didn't like admitting the elder Black brother had any good qualities.

Regulus nodded. He paid for his drink and went on his way, knowing he'd gotten more than enough information from the bar that night.

"Prongsie!" Sirius cried upon entering the kitchen at the diner that night.

"You're washing dishes, Padfoot," James replied, not even looking up from what he was frying.

"Dude, you know him?" One of the teenagers asked James.

"Prongsie's my best mate from school!" Sirius cried enthusiastically as he scrubbed a plate.

"No way!" the kid cried. "You married like Potter, here?"

"Hah, not a chance, kid," Sirius replied with a smirk.

"Got a girlfriend?" the quiet boy who made fries asked.

"Nope. Women are troublesome." Sirius grinned.

"He's dating one of our other friends from school," James said while sending a challenging look at Sirius.

"Wait, you're into blokes?" the first kid asked.

"Just one," Sirius stated serenely. "But that's all I need, really."

"Padfoot's over the moon for Moony!" James said in a sing-song voice.

"BOYS!" the manager barked and they all jumped. "This isn't playtime. Just because we've got a new member of the staff doesn't mean we can just chit-chat through the dinner rush!"

"YES SIR!" everyone but Sirius shouted.

"Black! I know you've never worked in a kitchen before but I run a tight ship. Don't misbehave or you'll be out of here faster than you can list an order!" The manager scowled at Sirius.

"Well, this will be good experience, sir. Maybe after this, Madame Rosemerta will let me waitress." Sirius wore a large grin.

"You'd better be serious about your job, do you understand, son?"

"I'm serious about everything," Sirius replied.

"Now's not the time for that damn pun, Padfoot," James informed his friend. "Just listen to him or I'll tell Moony you were goofing off at work again," James threatened.

"You wouldn't," Sirius gave him a frightened look.

"Lily too," James said with a malicious grin.

"You're terrible!" Sirius cried in terror. The manager took this as a sign that James had it under control.

"Maybe even Severus."

"They'll kill me. They'll kill me and I won't be around to bring glorious mayhem into Baby Harry's life. Is that what you really want, James?" Sirius tried to reason with him.

"Well if you're dead, we can name Remus as Harry's godfather," James replied.

"You wouldn't!" Sirius cried. "Remie would make him all stuffy and boring!"

"It hasn't worked on you, thus far."

"No one can repress the free spirit of the great and beautiful Sirius Black!" he proclaimed, raising a soapy fist in the air.

"You forgot humble," James teased.

"Humble? Are you making up words again, James? You know, that's highly immature."

"This coming from the man whose sense of humor hasn't matured since we were fourteen," James muttered.

"Potter, we didn't know you were cool," one guy said.

"Only around the right people," James corrected.

"Yeah, when he's around Lily, he's so whipped. And when he's around Harry he's ridiculous. But around me, he takes some of the extra cool I exude and pretends it's his own," Sirius explained.

"Padfoot, just wash the dishes." James shook his head. Maybe getting Sirius the job _wasn't_ the best idea…

"Peter didn't come home again, last night," Annabel muttered. She saw the blinking answering machine saying they had a message so she played it.

"Sorry, Bell," it was Peter's voice ringing through the quiet apartment. "It's late so you probably won't get this until morning but I'm, um, staying at my mum's house tonight. I, um, should have told you earlier but it slipped my mind and, er, well, I'm telling you now." Annabel knew it was a lie. Peter always fumbled for his words when he lied. He probably stayed with some other woman last night. Somehow it didn't bother her very much.

_Of course it doesn't bother you_, she thought to herself. _He's betraying his friends. He's joined the stupid Death Eaters. You knew he was cheating on you most of the time, anyways. She wondered, not for the first time, why she stuck around. Then, of course, images of his friends popped up. Lily was such a nice woman. James, Sirius, and Remus were always there for Peter (and anyone else who needed it), even though she had a feeling they knew he was up to something fishy. Severus was, despite his initial attitude, really a very caring (if detail-oriented) man. And Regulus. She could go on for hours about Regulus._

_Somehow, Annabel found herself sitting on the kitchen floor, up against a cabinet, crying. She didn't know why exactly she was crying (Could it have something to do with the fact that her life wasn't going anywhere near the way she planned?) and she couldn't, for the life of her, stop._

_"Annabel," her brother's soft voice called from the doorway. "Where are you, Little Bell?"_

_"I'm in here," she called meekly._

_"Bell, why're you crying?" he said when he entered, sitting down next to her and placing a comforting arm around her._

_"I'm not sure," she sniffled._

_"Where's that boyfriend of yours? Isn't it a little early to be at work?" he looked concerned._

_"Didn't come home last night," she said, wiping at her eyes with her arm. "Said he was staying at his mother's."_

_"He wasn't though, was he, Bell?" he looked concerned for her._

_"Of course not, Lucas," she snapped. "He spent the night with some other woman."_

_"Why are you still with him, Bell, if he makes you so miserable?" Lucas gave her a sad look._

_"His best friends have now become my best friends," she replied. "If I dumped him, I doubt they'd want to be anywhere near me, no matter how justified I am for doing so."_

_"They can't be that great," Lucas insisted._

_"You've never met them," she replied. "They're so wonderful. Lily's the sweetest woman on the planet. James, Sirius and Remus will protect anyone who needs it. Severus would poison your enemies for you. And Regulus is a gorgeous, sweet man."_

_"Maybe you should date one of them," Lucas muttered._

_"Lily is married to James and is sharing him with Severus; Sirius and Remus are madly in love, and Regulus is out of my league. Besides, I doubt he wants a relationship anyways." Annabel frowned._

_"Well, they all sound mad to me," Lucas remarked._

_"They are. That's why they're so great."_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: ohmygosh, I'm sooooooooo sorry that this took so long. I had no initiative to fix it until now. I corrected this all by myself, so tell me if there are any mistakes that I missed (hopefully there aren't many). I'm going to work really hard on finishing this story, and tell me if you want a sequel, because I CAN write one.  
**_DISCLAIMER: I don't own it. Really. I mean, Rose, Anabel, Lucas and Stanley are my inventions, but everyone else, and everything else belongs to the lovely Jo Rowling. _

* * *

"Hey Remus?" Regulus looked up from his book, remembering a question he'd been wanting to ask someone for sometime.

"Mmm?" Remus didn't look up from his own book but Regulus knew from experience that he was listening closely.

"Do you know who Gideon and Fabian Prewett are?" While Regulus waited for an answer (he knew it would be a minute as Remus had to find a good place to stop so he could properly explain), he looked down at the complex diagram yet again. He didn't understand how his brother and James had understood all this by the time they were fifteen. He'd been reading up on texts explaining the process of becoming an animagus and was finding it difficult.

"They're members of the Order," Remus finally replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, the other day when I was at the Leaky Caldron, they came in and everyone seemed to know them." Regulus shrugged. He was playing his usual information gathering game: pretend he wasn't really as interested as he was in the subject to loosen lips.

"You needn't play your little games with me, Regulus. I'll be forthcoming with what information I can share as long as you ask what you want to know," Remus chided. Not for the first time, Regulus found himself cursing the werewolf's ability to read people like a book. His brother did this to him too.

"Well, everyone did seem to know them and Mr. Brown, one of Father's old work friends, said they were a lot like Sirius in that they could get a bunch of people to like them with charisma alone," Regulus expanded.

"Yes, they're quite a pair, those two," Remus agreed. "And a comparison to James and Sirius wouldn't be far off the mark. They're spirited and exceptionally passionate fighters. Their sister, Molly Weasley, says they're quite the influence on her twins, who're a couple years older than Harry."

"They said they'd come back from America," Regulus said, pointing Remus in the direction he wanted to go.

"Yes. I'd heard from Mundungus that they were back, but you must take everything he says with a grain of salt," Remus replied.

"Oh, Mr. Fletcher, Dung's uncle, I think, was at the pub when they came in," Regulus explained. "What were they doing in America anyways."

"I don't know exactly, but I do know it was Order business. Dumbledore most likely thought they'd be a good pair to appeal to the Americans as they share similar characteristics," Remus explained. "The reputation of being obnoxious and the like."

"There was a guy who came in before them, practically announced their arrival, asking Tom about a room for them," Regulus explained. "Who was that?"

"That'd be… Benjy? Benjy Fenwick, I think, is the one that follows those two around, making sure they don't get in too much trouble." Remus looked like he was thinking it over.

"'M home!" Sirius called.

"We're in the kitchen, love!" Remus called back. Sirius entered. "It's Benjy that's been trailing the Prewetts, right?" he asked.

"Ah the Prewetts," Sirius said with a grin. "Yeah, Fenwick hasn't been at the last couple meetings. Off in America with those two. Why?"

"They're back in town," Regulus explained. "I saw them at the Leaky Caldron the other day and everyone seemed to know them, so I was asking Remus about them."

"Bet they caused quite a stir overseas," Sirius muttered. "Those poor, American women." He sighed, shaking his head.

"I hear American women are fiendish feminists who will rip a man to shreds," Regulus replied.

"All women will rip a man to shreds," Sirius said solemnly.

"Why none of them have ripped you to shreds yet, I may never know," Remus muttered.

"My dear Moony, it's the puppy eyes," Sirius explained. He then noticed the book Regulus had in his hand. "The old transformation books? You kept those, Moony?"

"It seemed a waste to throw them out," he replied. "I thought that, maybe someday, we'd need them again. Maybe Lily would want to look them over, maybe Baby Harry will be influenced into it," Remus shrugged, "who knows."

"Good luck, Reggie," Sirius smirked. "Dreadfully boring," he added. "Only reason Prongs and I got through them is that we had Moony to think about."

"What about Pettigrew?" Regulus asked.

"Oh, James and I taught him. Shouldn'ta done, but what can you do," Sirius just shrugged. "Back then, he wasn't so bad."

"Sirius!" Remus cried.

"Well he's betraying our trust, Moony!" Sirius cried angrily.

"But he's still Peter," Remus chided.

"He's a coward," Regulus mumbled.

"Gryffindors aren't cowards," Sirius insisted.

"He's not in Gryffindor anymore, is he?" Regulus asked pointedly. "The rules of Hogwarts don't apply out here."

"He's not a coward," Sirius stated. "He just doesn't know how to get what he wants."

"And what does he want?" Remus encouraged the current line Sirius was taking.

"Probably to stop being so invisible," Sirius replied. "He knows better than any of us that he's always an afterthought. One can only stand being an afterthought for so long." His voice was tinged with sadness, like he wasn't talking about Peter anymore.

"Sirius," Remus said in a comforting manner.

"Trust me, Sirius, you were always at the forefront of Mum's and Father's minds. Mum's still raving about you and Remus." Sirius smirked at that. "Mr. Brown, you remember him, was at the Leaky Caldron that night too."

"That bastard? He calls me a blood traitor but his mother's a muggle. His father's Igor Brown, but that's beside the point." Sirius scowled.

That night, Regulus found himself at the center of a terrifying dream that was far too much like reality.

_He was four again, and playing with the girl from across the street who was the same age, and also a muggle. He was giggling and having a great time when his father spotted him. _

_He strode over angrily and grabbed Regulus by the arm. "Excuse me," he'd said, "but Regulus needs to go home now." The girl nodded fearfully and Mr. Black drug Regulus away as they boy kicked and protested loudly._

_"You're never to play with that girl, or any muggle, ever again, do you understand me Regulus Arcturus," his father said icily._

_"But father, she's my friend!" Regulus protested. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, that Sirius was hiding fearfully behind the banister on the upper landing, next to the stairs, watching Regulus get punished._

_"She is a muggle. Filth. Trash. You will _not _play with her, Regulus." His father's glare was so cold that Regulus shivered under it. Tears welled up in his eyes. "Boys don't cry, Regulus. Now get out of my sight." Regulus was immobile with fear. His father cast a stinging hex on him and the tears started falling. "GET OUT!" he roared and Regulus raced up the stairs and away from his frightening father._

_Sirius had quickly gone to his room when he heard his father yell and Regulus went there. "Siri," he sniffled._

_"What's wrong, Reg?" he asked like he hadn't been watching._

_"Father's really scary," Regulus said and began truly sobbing._

_"It's okay Reg," Sirius said, hugging his brother. "It'll be okay. I'll make a big fuss at dinner so he'll stop being mad at you, okay?" Sirius smiled down at his younger brother._

_"Really?" Regulus looked grateful. "Are you sure? Mum'll go mad again."_

_"Good." Sirius wore an impish grin. "And hey, you can even borrow Procyon tonight."_

_Before he knew it, dinner had arrived. This, however, was where the memory was marred by the nightmare. Sirius, who was suddenly a teenager, though Regulus was still four, was talking about how bad Regulus had been and his parents were agreeing. When Regulus confronted him about it after dinner, he just sneered._

_"You're such a baby, Reg," he said. "Grow up." He threw Procyon at Regulus and then locked himself up in his room._

_He went into his room and hugged the stuffeddog tight, wishing that Sirius hadn't been so cruel. He was crying again, and then Procyon was biting him and he was crying harder._

Regulus woke up, angry at the dream. He went out to get a glass of water and saw Sirius sitting up, reading.

"Siri," Regulus said quietly.

"You haven't called me that since we were kids," Sirius looked up smiling.

"Do you remember the first time Father got really, truly mad at me?" Regulus asked, sitting next to his brother.

"Was that when you were playing with the muggle girl?" Sirius asked. Regulus nodded. "Didn't he use the Stinging Hex." Regulus nodded again. "How old were we?"

"I was four," Regulus replied quietly. "I just dreamt of that. Only, instead of distracting Mum and Father at dinner for me, you were fifteen and made fun of me and they agreed." Regulus was sitting, hugging his knees.

"Oh Reg," Sirius said in a comforting voice. "Just remember, in real life, I did piss off Mum and Father that night. I got more than one Stinging Hex," Sirius informed.

"I know." Regulus scowled. "It wasn't the hex, or the yelling that really scared me though," he added. "It was that cold voice, that icy glare. I was afraid he didn't want me." Regulus shivered just at the memory. "I was afraid no one wanted me." His voice, by now, was barely a whisper.

"Who was it that fixed Procyon when that dog ripped it to shreds?" Sirius asked.

"My accidental magic," Regulus replied, not seeing where this was going.

"Doesn't matter if it was accidental," Sirius replied. "You did it. Reg, you were my little brother and no one was going to do anything to you as long as I was around."

"That didn't last long," Regulus muttered.

"Hey, did anyone jinx you at school? Did bullies go anywhere near you, even though you were scrawny, an easy target?" Sirius asked.

"No," Regulus muttered.

"You want to know why they didn't?" Sirius asked. Regulus nodded, looking confused.

"Because your big brother made sure they didn't get anywhere near you." Sirius fixed him with a serious gaze. "Sure, me and James picked on you. That's my job as your brother. But we were the only ones. If anyone else had gone near my brother, they'd have hell to pay and they knew it. As much as I hated our family, as angry as I was with you taking their side, you were still my little brother. The one who'd always been right behind me, looking up to my example."

"Thanks," Regulus looked up at his brother. "I was terrible to you, Siri and you still protected me."

"Well of course. Without me there, you had no one to help you out when you were at your lowest. I'm named after the dog star for a reason, you know," Sirius said simply. "I'm unerringly loyal."

***

"Hullo Lucas," Peter greeted as he entered the flat. He looked a little worse for the wear, Annabel noted. He came up to her and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm sorry Annabel, I really am, but I'm only home long enough to pack."

"Why?" she asked accusatorially.

"Moony, Padfoot and Prongs will know," he replied simply. _Order business then_, she thought to herself.

"Do be safe!" she called. She then turned to her brother. "Would you mind terribly staying here while he's gone?" she asked.

"Afraid to stay all by yourself, Bell?" he joked.

"Who wouldn't be on this side of town," she muttered. Their apartment was located in a rather run-down area of London and she didn't trust her neighbors as far as she could throw them.

"You're a witch, Bell. Need I remind you?" Lucas looked amused.

"Oh I'm sure MLE will love that," she muttered. "I'm getting mugged trying to get into my apartment and _Stupefy_ one of my neighbors." She rolled her eyes. "But I'm sure they'll be absolutely terrified of my big brother."

"If Pettigrew keeps the baddies away, it can't be that hard," Lucas muttered.

"Oh! I ought to call Lily. You're coming to dinner with me tonight," Annabel ordered.

"You do know it's impossible to say no to you, right?" Lucas shook his head as she dialed the Potters'.

"Oh, hello Severus. Is Lily there?… Lily, it's Annabel… Oh, you'd heard then… Is it all right if I bring my older brother Lucas in his stead?… Of course… Give Harry and Rose massive hugs for me!… See you at six… bye!"

"Did you have a pleasant conversation?" Lucas asked.

"Of course," Annabel replied. There was suddenly a pounding on the door. Annabel answered it. "Regulus." She was shocked.

"Peter still here?" he asked, a scowl on his face.

"He's in the bedroom packing," Annabel pointed him in the right direction.

"Thanks. OI PETTIGREW!" As he shouted for the rat animagus, he sounded startlingly like his elder brother, except that Sirius would have called Peter 'Petey' or 'Wormy' instead.

"You're right," Lucas muttered when he was out of earshot. "He is gorgeous."

"You should see his brother," Annabel muttered. "Sirius is flawless; Remus is lucky."

"I cannot wait to meet these people." Lucas looked truly excited. "I had expected them all to be about as good looking as Pettigrew."

"He's not ugly!" Annabel cried indignantly. "He's actually rather cute."

"He looks like a rat," Lucas stated with distaste.

"It grows on you," she huffed.

"IT'S A MESSAGE FROM SIRI, DAMMIT!" she heard Regulus shout.

"That must be the infamous Black temper," Annabel muttered.

"Wait, as in _the_ Blacks? The _toujours pur_ Blacks?" Lucas looked amazed.

"I think so," Annabel muttered distractedly, listening for more of the argument. "Why?"

"Stanley, you remember my boyfriend Stanley, said he heard that the heir was disowned," Lucas informed.

"That was ages ago," Annabel replied. "Sirius was sixteen when he left and took up permanent residence with the Potters."

"How do you know all this? The Blacks are notoriously tight-lipped."

"I've been dating Peter nearly a year now," she replied. "The boys give away little details here and there. I very nearly heard the whole story from James and Sirius in one sitting, once. It was quite entertaining."

"Fucking rat," Regulus muttered, coming out of the room. "See you at dinner," he said, noticing Annabel. Then, he left, grumbling to himself as he went.

***

"Annabel!" Petunia cried and smothered the petite girl in a hug. "It's been ages."

"Are Dudley and Vernon here too?" Annabel inquired politely.

"Oh yes. Vernon's out back with James, Black, and Regulus talking about that motorbike and Dudley's in the front room with Rose and Harry. Remus is watching them, I think. Or was it Severus?" Petunia, at this point was rambling. Lucas pointedly cleared his throat.

"Oh right. Petunia, this is my brother Lucas. Lucas, this is Petunia Dursley, Lily's older sister." Annabel smiled sheepishly as she introduced them.

"Lily's in the kitchen with either Remus or Severus. Whichever one isn't watching the children," Petunia informed. Annabel nodded and led her brother to the kitchen. When they entered, she was surprised to see that all six of them---that is, Lily, Remus, Severus, Harry, Dudley, and Rose---were in the kitchen.

"Oh Annabel! I didn't even realize you were here," Lily exclaimed, getting up from feeding her nephew. Remus was trying to get Harry to eat strained peas (it wasn't going very well) and Severus had all but given up trying to get Rose to eat, instead watching her use the baby food as finger-paints on her highchair tray.

"Everyone, this is my brother Lucas," she introduce. "Lucas, that's Lily Potter, James' wife, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter, and Rose Snape." She pointed to each in turn. "You'll find that we often refer to the children with names like Dudders, Baby Harry and Little Rosie."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Lucas." Lily extended a hand.

"You too," Lucas replied, shaking her hand.

"Pleasure," Remus said softly, extending a hand as well. Lucas also shook that. Severus just nodded to acknowledge he was there.

"Oh my, Remus, I think it's a miracle!" Lily exclaimed.

"I'm flabbergasted," Remus agreed.

"Which my husband and your mutt would insist is a funny word," Lily added.

"And then point out that funny words should always be pointed out." Remus nodded.

"You two have been spending far too much time with your significant others," Snape drawled.

"Well you acknowledged Lucas. You hardly ever acknowledge the presence of newcomers," Lily pointed out.

"In fact, I believe the first time Petunia introduced you to Vernon, you went on with the conversation like he wasn't even there," Remus added.

"Or Regulus' last girlfriend, whatserface," Lily didn't even try to remember the name. "He comes in with her and every time she says something, you ignore it completely."

"As to the first, I don't know what you're talking about. And as to the second, I knew she wouldn't last," Severus insisted. "Regulus hasn't had a steady girlfriend since he was fifteen."

"Sounds a bit like his brother," Remus muttered darkly.

"Except it's opposite," Lily pointed out. "Of course, Sirius never had a steady girlfriend…"

"Are we talking about me, then?" Sirius said, entering the kitchen. "It's my favorite subject, you know."

"We know Padfoot. Everyone knows," Remus remarked dryly. "I think that tree out back knows."

"Sirius," Annabel jumped in before the conversation could get out of hand, "my brother Lucas. Lucas, this is Sirius Black, Regulus' older brother and Remus' boyfriend."

"Annabel says you're gay," Sirius opened conversation. Lucas looked sheepish. "No worries, mate. Me and Moony have been dating for four years now. And James isn't a stranger to that world either. See, Snapey over there and the Lilster---"

"I told you not to call me that, Black," she said in a warning tone.

"---are sharing my best friend James, actually," Sirius continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. It was safe to assume that he was interrupted enough that he was no longer bothered by it. "Really, you needn't be shy about anything in this house."

"Merlin knows you aren't," Lily muttered.

"Your husband isn't exactly humble either," Sirius sniffed.

"Yes, and there are days when I can't believe I married the prat," she replied.

"Those are the days you leave Snape to deal with him, am I right?" Sirius asked with his impish grin.

"Are you sure you want to leave your bike in the hands of your younger brother, Vernon and Prongs?" Remus asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, those three gave up on Suzette long ago. Now they're all marveling over Prongsie's Cleansweep," Sirius replied off-handedly.

"Has he got one of the new models?" Lucas asked intrigued.

"Apparently his uncle owns the company so he didn't even have to pay for it," Annabel explained to her brother.

"Lucky man." Lucas looked jealous. "I've been saving up for ages for a nice broom."

"I'm sure Prongs would give it to you," Sirius said. "He wants the Nimbus 1994 that comes out next month."

"That man would spend his entire fortune on Quidditch nonsense," Lily muttered darkly. "And leave me and Harry with what? Harry'll have nothing to grow up on at this rate."

"He's actually spending a month's pay from the diner on it," Sirius corrected. "Says that's why he works at the damn place. The Potter fortune is for you and Harry. He's afraid Sniv won't take any of it, nor will he let Rose use it."

"Snapes don't take charity," Severus insisted.

"Blacks always take bribes!" Sirius cried enthusiastically.

"That's probably why Narcissa married Lucius Malfoy," Regulus said, entering the kitchen (and the conversation).

"Regulus, you were never properly introduced to my brother Lucas," Annabel gestured. "Lucas, that's Regulus."

"Can't believe Bella married Lestrange," Sirius laughed. "If she has… spawn---can't really call them kids, can you?--- they have no chance of mental health."

"Andromeda's the only one who didn't marry for station," Regulus added.

"And now you know why Andie's my favorite cousin," Sirius replied.

"Who's the stranger next to Annabel?" James asked as he and Vernon entered the overstuffed kitchen. It was times like these when Lily wondered why they hadn't bought a bigger house.

"That's my brother Lucas," Annabel declared proudly. "Lucas, that's James Potter and Vernon Dursley. Vernon gave a gruff greeting and James smiled.

"Is that everyone then?" Lucas asked.

"Well, Wormtail's off on some mission, but I suppose you've already met him," James replied.

"Of course he's met Wormtail, Prongsie!" Sirius cried as if James had said something ridiculous like the sky was green or some such nonsense. "I mean, our little Wormy is dating Lucas' sister, poor chap."

"Who, me or Peter?" Lucas asked, looking confused.

"Peter. Sirius is convinced that all women are evil," James explained.

"And to think, you used to spend as much time as you could with one woman or another," Remus said, reminiscing. "And the time you didn't spend with them, you'd go on about your exploits with them."

"And then, of course, I met a devilishly handsome werewolf, he seduced me, and I haven't looked back since," Sirius narrated.

"Werewolf?" Lucas looked scared. Vernon, who also hadn't known about Remus' affliction was shocked.

"Moony's harmless 96.4% of the time," Sirius insisted. "And, you'll be happy to know, the moon is waning. So he'll grow increasingly more harmless as the night wears on." He wore a bright smile.

"Really, Padfoot, you ought to watch your tongue." Remus glared at the dog animagus.

"I've got better ideas for my tongue," Sirius smirked.

"Your tongue will stay in your mouth for the rest of the night," Remus scolded.

"As you're my better half, does your mouth count as my mouth too?" Sirius continued to grin.

"No." Remus glared.

"Do I get to spoony with my Moony tonight, at least?" Sirius had gone from smug to pleading in less than a minute.

"I've half a mind to say no to that too," Remus replied.

"But Mooooooooonyyyyyyyyyy," Sirius whined.

"I doubt I could withhold that from you," Remus conceded. "Damn your puppy eyes."

"James is rather proficient at the deer-in-headlights," Lily piped in. Remus, Sirius, Regulus, and James all giggled along with her.

"Damn them and their inside jokes," Petunia muttered.

"I understood," Severus pointed out. "I just didn't find it funny."

"Well that's because you have no sense of humor, Snivellus," Sirius sneered.

"I'm sure that's it, Black."

***

"I see why you like them so much," Lucas remarked after he and Annabel had returned to the flat that evening.

"Entertaining, aren't they?" Annabel replied with a smile.

"Sirius was right about not needing to be shy about anything. He'll talk about anything."

"Well of course. Sirius needs to be the center of attention at all times," Annabel explained.

"Stanley would like them," he added.

"It's hard not to like them," Annabel pointed out.

"I'm sure Stanley would fit in, though," Lucas clarified.

"Oh, he would, I'm sure." Annabel flicked through the mail she'd been too lazy to check earlier that day.

"There was something, though, that I don't quite get."

"What was that?" Annabel muttered distractedly.

"James, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Severus seemed to be part of this private joke that no one else was allowed to be a part of," Lucas explained. Annabel chuckled.

"Had Peter been there, you would have seen the truth," she explained. "They were all in the same year at Hogwarts. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter have been the best of friends since their first train ride. They call themselves the Marauders and they used to be the prank kings. Apparently, James spent most of their time in school trying to convince Lily to go on a date with him. The spent an equal amount of time picking on Severus. Of course, there were underlying things as well, but that's the basic story."

"Then why is Severus so close to them now?" Lucas looked confused.

"Somehow he and James ended up dating for a few years," Annabel replied. "I don't know the details though."

"Interesting group," Lucas said in reply.

"I like to think of them as eclectic." Annabel wore a large grin.

Lucas was off on a date with Stanley and Annabel felt far too alone for her liking. He'd said not to wait up for him; he probably wouldn't be back until morning. And of course, Peter would be gone for at least another week, the boys said. She sighed, not knowing what to do with herself.

There was a knock at the door, and she was pleased, if only for the promise of someone to talk to. She opened the door to see Regulus Black.

"Hey Annabel, is Peter back?" he asked.

"No. Remus said he wasn't expected back for another week," she replied. "What do you need."

"I've a message from… his boss."

"You mean his Lord," she spat with distaste.

"You know then?" Regulus looked sheepish.

"Come in. I'll make you tea or something," she replied, opening the door.

"How do you know?" Regulus pressed.

"Oh please, you think Peter's any good at Glamours?" she asked with a snort. "And I'm not exactly stupid, Regulus."

"I suppose the rat wouldn't be exactly good at hiding it," Regulus muttered. "I still can't see why they keep him around."

"They've been friends far too long to give up now," Annabel said simply. "They can't imagine life without him."

"Well, give him this envelope when he gets back." He handed over a thick envelope. She figured it was heavily charmed so that Peter was the only one who could open it, but she wouldn't have anyways. It's not that she respected his privacy, or anything. No, she just pretended like that part of him didn't exist. Just like she sometimes liked to pretend he didn't cheat on her. And then, an idea popped into her mind.

Before she could stop herself, she'd leaned up (on tiptoes, as Regulus was quite a bit taller than she) and started kissing him. He was shocked at first, and then gently pulled away.

"What about Peter?" he asked. Such a simple question, and he hadn't seemed unhappy that she was kissing him. He had no respect for the man and yet here he was, reminding Annabel that she had a boyfriend and that she really shouldn't be kissing other men.

"He's been cheating on me," she stated dramatically. "And it's not exactly fairytale happy around here, either."

"So you're going to lower yourself to his level and cheat?" Regulus asked.

"It's not just that," she replied. "I don't love him."

"Are you certain you want to do this? Take it from someone who's been there; once you cheat, nothing's the same. The relationship is ruined." Regulus fixed her with a serious look.

"He won't be heartbroken in the least," she insisted.

"You'll feel terrible afterwards," Regulus stepped forward and looked down at her softly, tucking a few loose hairs behind her ear.

"Please?" she pleaded. "Just do this for me?" He didn't need to be asked twice. He leaned down and kissed her. One of his hands was twisted in her hair, and the other rested on the small of her back, pushing her closer. She wound her arms around his neck and the kiss deepened.

At some point, she felt herself falling downwards, and landing on the lumpy couch. They shifted to get more comfortable with the new position, not once breaking the kiss. After that, it got hazy. She blamed the lust. But when they'd finished and Regulus stood to get dressed, she didn't stop him. After all, she didn't want to think about what her brother would say if he came home to find the two on the couch together. And she really didn't like to think about what Regulus would have answered when his brother asked where he'd been all night. No, it was much better this way.

He'd been right about the feeling terrible part, but thoroughly wrong about the reason. She was still certain she didn't love Peter. But there were new emotions bubbling within her, and she didn't like the direction they were taking her one bit. She couldn't possibly be falling for Regulus. It was a one time thing. This wouldn't, couldn't happen again.

***

Regulus couldn't believe what he'd just done. He didn't sleep with girls who had boyfriends. Especially if those boyfriends commonly used Unforgivables. He was a former Slytherin, after all, and not above cowardice.

And yet here he was, lying in his room after being with Annabel. He didn't even _like_ Peter. The man was betraying Regulus' brother (something he wouldn't forgive), he was cheating on Annabel (something no decent man would ever forgive), and, to top it all off, he was tangling Annabel up in his mess. The man was less than scum in his book.

Regulus scowled, knowing he ought to talk to someone about it. But, of course, he had no one _to_ talk about it. He couldn't tell Sirius, because, like it or not, Sirius cared more about the rat than he cared to think. Remus and James were out for the same reason. Lily, well, she too was probably close to Pettigrew. Severus was too close to James at this point. And besides, Regulus already knew what he'd say.

It didn't help, of course, that Regulus couldn't stop thinking about it. For someone who was incredibly good at spending one night (maybe two, if she was lucky) with a girl and then never speaking to her again, Regulus couldn't drive Annabel from his mind.

_What is it_, he asked himself, _that I'm so caught up on?_ By all accounts, it probably shouldn't have been as memorable as it was. But that first kiss… it must have been the desperation. Or so he told himself. Or maybe it was the fact that he'd been looking for a way for ages to crush Peter. But then, he was guilty, because this wasn't what he'd wanted. Not really. Sure, he would've given the Black family fortune to be able to _Kedavra_ the little rat into next week (hell, stunners would work too!), but this, this felt dirty and underhanded. This wasn't what he'd wanted.

He knew, it'd been in her eyes as he was leaving, that this wasn't going to happen again. He really ought to just forget it'd ever happened and move on with his life. And he really wanted to. But somehow, somehow, he knew it wouldn't be the same.

But then, when had anything gone right for Regulus Arcturus Black? _Never_, he thought. Things _had been going too perfectly for him. Sirius forgiving him. The Dark Lord having no clue why all his missions continued to fail. Being accepted into the family Sirius had built for himself. No, it was probably better this way. This was the best way to make things imperfect for him. He was happy, he really was. Or, that's what he kept telling himself. He could have been killed by the Dark Lord for spying, right? No, this was definitely the best way for things to go._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Holy banana sandwich, it's been a long time. Sorry, all. I sorta lost my inspiration for this one. I got a pm, though, that reminded me about the story, and since we're getting so close to the end, I decided to just finish it off and hope for the best. It could take a while for the chapters. I'm sorry. Like I said, the inspiration is sort of gone. But I'm going to work on it! Also, I don't have a beta, so I'm sorry. I do, however, edit for myself before I post, so there shouldn't be too many errors. So, yeah, have fun!**

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Do you think if I did, I'd be writing fan fiction? No. I'd start a Japanese talent agency for very pretty boys. So please don't sue me!_

"Aha!" Lily cried triumphantly. Harry, afraid of what his mother could do, whimpered, about ready to cry.

"I'm afraid too, son," James scooped the child up and edged out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Severus asked, about to enter.

"Lily's cackling madly," James whispered, hoping his wife wouldn't hear him. Lucky for him, she was cackling too loudly to notice.

"Lily, is something wrong?" Severus could be heard asking from the adjoining room. James and Harry (who was naturally good at mischief) had their ears to the wall. James wasn't certain if his child, only a few months old, was actually talented in the art of pranking and the like, or if he was just imitating his father.

"Just found what I was looking for, is all," she remarked, suddenly calm. James knew that the sudden change in Lily's attitude never boded well.

"And what were you looking for?" Severus asked in his normal dry tones. Now that he was rather certain it wasn't destructive, he was uninterested.

"Well, I've noticed that you sort of hold back when I'm around James and I think that it's because, whether it's conscious or not, you think I have more of a claim on him as I'm his wife and you have no tying titles such as that." James could tell just by the tone that Lily had that determined gleam in her eye.

"You'd do well to inherit her stubbornness, Harry," he told the child, who he wasn't sure could quite understand him. "It's a right good trait, even if it'll make you intolerable at times. All the best Gryffindors are stubborn."

"That's not something you'd be looking for," Snape replied simply.

"I was just giving you back story," she snapped. "You needn't be so ungrateful."

"I believe I was being impatient," Severus corrected. James snickered. A real battle of the intellects here.

"Anyways, I was thinking of ways that would give you a similar claim on James so you wouldn't feel you had to back off on my account," she replied. "And I didn't know how legal it was in the wizarding world but in the muggle one, you can't have more than one spouse."

"Wizarding law is very vague on such matters," Severus stated simply. "Because old laws allow it, but newer ones greatly restrict it."

"Oh, I know," Lily muttered. "I spent ages going through law books."

"And then ages more going through old texts trying to find the proper charms?" Severus asked.

"Well, I asked Remus for help," she admitted. "But it still took far longer than I wanted."

"Lupin?" Severus looked shocked.

"Well, when looking up the laws, I noticed that there were plenty of acceptable charms for taking a second wife," Lily admitted. "But there's only one acceptable charm for marrying another man," she explained.

"So you thought that Lupin might know of it, in case he and Black were considering a Unity Ceremony." James had crept around the corner, Harry crawling with him, to watch the two.

"That is what came to mind, yes," Lily replied.

"You know, Black would have been the one to know the spell," Severus replied. "All the old families pass that sort of information down, mostly for the purpose of producing the necessary heirs."

"What, one wife doesn't work so they take another?" Lily asked with a scowl. Severus nodded. "Don't they know that it's the _man_ who provides the genetic information to produce the child's gender?" Lily asked looking appalled.

"Is it really?" Severus looked shocked.

"I suppose wizards don't know much about genetics," Lily muttered. "Anyways, I've found the spell necessary. So, all we have to do is get James to agree."

"Is it difficult, this spell?" James asked, standing up (and taking Harry with him). Lily proceeded to explain. Severus wondered when he'd actually agreed to it, looking dazed.

"Suzette's nearly finished again," Sirius announced one day, coming home covered in grease from working on the motorcycle. "But the charms are going to be difficult, for sure," he added. "I probably should have put them on the parts but it's hard enough getting everything to work as it is."

"That's lovely," Remus replied as if he hadn't really been listening. He was, after all, looking more intently than usual at the book he was reading. Sirius turned to Regulus, who it seemed hadn't even heard him. Regulus was scribbling notes as he scowled at his own book.

"Well, I'll be taking a shower now," Sirius announced. "And Moony, by all means, feel free to join me." He wore an impish grin, hoping that it would sink in with the werewolf in a few minutes, as he walked toward the bedroom, gathering things before his shower.

Remus did look up, after a moment, scowling in the direction of the bathroom, where he heard the shower starting. "That man," he muttered, marking his page in the book. He'd need to gather his thoughts now.

"Remus?" Regulus looked up helplessly. "I've read the same passage five times and I still don't get it," he looked hopefully at the werewolf.

Remus was still helping Regulus to understand it (and trying to get it, himself) when Sirius emerged from the shower. He flopped on the couch dramatically before springing up again when a large, silvery-white stag cantered into the room.

"Padfoot, Moony," it said urgently in James' voice. "Emergency meeting at headquarters." As it disappeared, Regulus let out a loud curse, dropping his quill to clutch at his left forearm.

"Looks like we're going to be busy tonight," Remus muttered.

"Lily!" Alice Longbottom cried, coming up to the Marauders' group.

"Alice! How's little Neville?" she asked while hugging her friend. Alice had had a son about a week before Harry was born.

"He's good. Staying with my parents tonight," she responded. "Where's Harry?"

"He's staying with James' parents," Lily explained. "I popped over while James sent word to Remus and Sirius."

"What of Peter?" Alice asked.

"Out of town. He's on some mission," she explained, "and it keeps getting extended."

"Poor Annabel," Alice replied, having spent enough time with them to know the girl.

"She seems to be getting along fine," Lily replied. "Though her brother did have to leave on business yesterday. She's all alone in that god-awful flat now." Lily's nose scrunched up in distaste. "If we had the room, I'd offer to let her stay at our place. Our house is just so small!"

"Quiet, everyone," Dumbledore said in his carrying voice, once everyone had arrived. "We've received word of a premeditated attack on the part of Voldemort."

"Aren't most of his attacks premeditated?" a woman named Marlene McKinnon asked. Lily barely knew the woman. All she did know was that she had a young family and that their dog, Rufus, had liked Sirius the one time he'd visited (to deliver a message to Marlene).

"This one is immensely so," Dumbledore stated simply. "We know he's been aiming for the where, Healer Markson's Hospital for Severe Magical Ailments, for quite some time. We didn't know, however, the when or the how. Now we know the when as well."

"Well when?" Sirius asked loudly.

"May 3rd," Dumbledore replied gravely.

"That's five months from now!" one of the Prewetts cried.

"Why May 3rd?" Remus asked softly.

"Because that's the man who runs it, Healer Markson's birthday." Marlene wore a scowl. She was the group's healer and, in fact, worked at Healer Markson's Hospital

"How will we stop it?" someone asked. "What about the patients?" another added. There was a general murmur of questions and Dumbledore waited for it to die down.

"We likely can't stop Voldemort from doing anything," Dumbledore informed them. "And, if it comes down to it, we can move the patients to the Hogwarts infirmary. However, Poppy can only handle so much traffic there, so I'd like as many of the patients as possible to be moved to St. Mungo's."

"Well, there are only seven- no, six now- patients there currently," Marlene informed. "But who knows what the number will be in five months' time. It could be none or it could be twenty."

"Why would he want to take out Healer Markson's Hospital?" Frank Longbottom asked. "It's only for those who need extensive medical care, who'll likely die anyways. And besides that, they're only staffed to accommodate, at most, twenty patients."

"But there's also the fact that many of our treatments are a combination of muggle and magic," Marlene pointed out.

"That's his reason then," Sirius stated glumly.

"That's not enough to call us here on emergency, though, is it?" James pointed out. Everyone turned to him.

"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore's voice was again, grave. "There's been a breach in the auror unit."

"What do you mean a breach? Were they attacked or have they been infiltrated?" Remus asked.

"Both," Moody replied gruffly. "We think, anyways. We got into a skirmish with what we thought were minor criminals but were really Death Eaters under the influence of Polyjuice Potion," Moody explained. "They took some of my best men. But we think that we've a spy because there've been too many occurrences like this lately. Little things turning into big problems and the like."

"Does anyone have any information about the Auror infiltration?" Dumbledore asked.

"Lately the Ministry's been passing legislation allowing for the restrictions for becoming an Auror lifted temporarily in the country's current state of crisis," someone blurted out.

"And they're delegating all the simple stuff to other offices of the department," Edgar Bones added. "My personal favorite is when they give the Reversal Squad a job." He wore a smile. "Criminals are promptly forgetting the crimes they were about to commit."

"If I'd ever gotten good at the memory modifiers, I would have totally been an Obliviater." Sirius donned his trademark impish grin.

"How are our friends in the muggle law enforcement groups?" Dumbledore prompted.

"Can the Reversal Squad spare a couple Obliviaters? We want each group in the muggle law enforcement fields to have someone who can modify memories. The groups themselves are sneaky but our adversaries don't exactly have our concerns. It's getting troublesome for them to always call over a Modifier from another group or from the Reversal Squad. Leaves messy questions," Sirius explained. It was a rare day when he referred to the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad's Modifiers by their proper title. Of course, most people referred to Modifiers by the main spell they used anyways.

"We can look into it," Edgar promised. "But all of MLE is stretched thin. We've been counting on other departments' help more and more lately."

"Understandable," Dumbledore murmured. The rest of the meeting went similarly, with various complaints about not having enough help where it was needed. Things were getting stretched thin across the board and they all knew it, making the fight against Voldemort that much more difficult.

"Oh!" Remus cried in remembrance just as the group was about to disband. "Sirius' brother, Regulus, has been staying with us, as you all know. Tonight, just as Sirius and I were about to leave for the meeting- with proper stories, of course- Regulus was called to a Death Eater meeting. Any ideas on the significance of the timing?"

"That'll likely be an Azkaban raid," Moody muttered irritably. "Despite the breach, we've still been putting 'em away. Caught some of the higher ups last time, more from a blunder than anything else."

"Is there anything else?" Dumbledore asked. No one spoke up. "Then I suppose the meeting is over." Everyone started filing out, some lingering longer than others to chitchat and mingle.

Sirius and Remus went over to the Potters' house afterwards for lack of anything better to do. James and Sirius headed out to the shed to take a look at Suzette while Remus and Lily sat in the kitchen and sipped tea while conversing.

"How is Regulus doing with his little project?" Lily asked conversationally.

"He's muddling through. It surprises me that James and Sirius made it through those books so easily at fifteen," he replied.

"McGonagall always said becoming an animagus was tricky work. It would stand to reason that James and Sirius completed the transformation as teenagers just to spite everyone else." Lily rolled her eyes.

"True. Those two are surprisingly good at the oddest things," Remus remarked. "How is your own project going?"

"I found the charm. Sev and James have pretty much accepted. We just need to set up a time for the ceremony. Sev doesn't want to make a big production out of it but James and I think it would be nice if you lot were there," she explained.

"And who exactly do you mean by 'you lot'?" Remus asked raising an eyebrow.

"Marauders plus Regulus," Lily stated simply. "Just our very closest friends."

James and Sirius returned at this point, sparing Lily from Remus' ever-pragmatic advice. "Ah Suzette, I love thee so," Sirius said as if he were reciting a Shakespearean love poem. "Such woes that you are broken physically and I emotionally. Such scars we bear. You shall never be a Muggle motorbike again and I shall never love a woman properly. But you! Suzette you are my love. My one and only mechanical love. None shall take your place! Unless, of course, Moony sprouts a motor."

Remus snorted once Sirius finished his poem. "Fat chance on that last one. Tell Suzette she's safe."

"We should probably get home," Sirius said sadly. "You lot have fun without us."

When Regulus returned home, Remus and Sirius were sleeping. It stood to reason considering it was four in the morning. He fixed himself a snack before heading off to bed. The problem was he couldn't sleep.

Ever since the dementors had made it plain that they were allied with the Dark Lord, the Ministry had been putting human guards up at Azkaban to ensure that the prisoners were safe. Of course, getting past them was usually a cake-walk. Tonight was a little different. An ex-Auror was the guard. He was definitely the most competent guard the Ministry had yet supplied. And, of course, it had to be Regulus' job to get rid of him.

Usually, the Death Eaters would just hit the guard with a Stunner, but this guy must have known they were coming. This guy also knew quite a bit about dueling. Regulus cursed his bad luck. Spells flew as the rest of the Death Eaters crept past the battle going on.

"Mad-Eye had a feelin' you lot would be comin' soon," the man replied. "Called me in for this as a favor. Much better than the desk job I've had for the last five years." Regulus mentally went through a list of the Aurors he'd heard from his brother's description of Moody's mentions. Who was that old Auror that Moody thought was crazy enough to warrant desk work for life.

"Frivol?" Regulus asked.

"Smart boy. How did you know that?" Frivol looked about as mad as everyone considered him.

"I'm not usually a fighter," Regulus informed. After all, he was completely anonymous in his mask and cloak. No one would recognize the youngest Black. "I'm mostly a recon man."

"Ahh, that's probably best for yeh. Yeh seem scrawny," the guy smirked at him. It was true; Regulus had never been good at dueling. Although he was a pretty boy, Sirius always seemed to be trying to look tough. Regulus who had never had a problem with being a pretty boy, was not cut out for this sort of thing.

"You're not in tip-top shape either," Regulus shot back.

"I bet yeh can't kill. Recon men rarely have the stomach for what the fighters do." Sage advice, coming from an adversary. Regulus was fairly certain that Frivol knew he was going easy on him.

"I'm a Death Eater," Regulus replied in the haughty, pureblood tones his parents had drilled into him from a young age. "I've killed before," he added, feeling some sort of need to prove himself to this old Auror.

"I remember the days when I was new on the force," the man replied wistfully. "Back before Grindelwald, that was. They still let Aurors use the Unforgivable Curses in those days. There was little regulation on it. Now you have to fill out hours of paperwork to explain why you've done what you did."

Regulus wondered when this lazy duel had turned into a lecture on the use of Unforgivables. "You ever have a Cruciatus turned on you?" Regulus asked angrily.

"Never hit," Frivol replied. "I'm Fast Feet Frivol." There was a rather toothy smile on his face.

"Well, perhaps you'll learn what hell it is tonight," Regulus muttered. "Perhaps you'll appreciate the paperwork." With that, he shot a Cruciatus Curse at the old man. He was shocked that it hit. The man he was fighting _was_ tiring after all. As he cried out in pain, Regulus saw his face. It was contorted with discomfort. This was why Regulus hated being a Death Eater. When the man had passed out from the pain, he released the curse and ran off to the rendezvous point.

It was the image of the man's face that Regulus couldn't shake. He'd been a Death Eater quite awhile and had used Unforgiveables on many, but never anyone specific. By getting to know this person, even a little, he had put a face on the destruction that the Dark Lord was wreaking. Before it had been bad, just knowing he was hurting people, but now that he could see someone he was hurting, he couldn't stand it.

He went out to the living room, bringing a book on the Animagus transformation. It was all but impossible to get through, which is why he was going to read it now; he needed a good distraction. He opened it up to where he'd left off and his brow furrowed almost immediately in concentration.

"Reg," he heard a little later. It was still the wee hours of the morning.

"Sirius?" he looked up from his book, a confused look on his face. "What are you doing up?"

"I have trouble sleeping sometimes," he shrugged. "I guess it's mostly stupid."

"Does Remus know?" Regulus was concerned. Since when had Sirius had this trouble.

"Of course," Sirius replied, almost chuckling. "He's a light sleeper himself. Always notices when I leave. Even back at school before we were sharing a bed. Sometimes he'd keep me company."

"Why do you have trouble sleeping?" Regulus asked.

"Like I said, it's mostly stupid," Sirius shrugged. "I don't know why I worry about it. I usually just clean something. That always puts me to sleep."

"I bet it does," Regulus replied, a chuckle in his voice.

"I think it'll be the fridge this time," Sirius decided. "Why are you up? It can't be just to study highly advanced transfiguration techniques." He wore his impish grin.

"Couldn't sleep either," Regulus muttered. "Couldn't stop thinking about the meeting tonight," he offered as an explanation. Sirius nodded. "All this complex stuff takes up all my concentration though."

"I'd think you wouldn't be able to focus," Sirius replied. "I know I have trouble focusing on much of anything after a battle. Those are the nights where I end up turning the flat upside-down cleaning it. Moony doesn't really mind though. He just sorta retreats into his books."

"I didn't know cleaning calmed you," Regulus was still astonished by this fact. Sirius had half the contents of the fridge sitting on the counter by this time.

"I guess I like doing something mugglish," Sirius explained. "Like fixing up Suzette. Some nights I apparate over to James' shed to work on her."

"Hmmm," was the only reply Regulus could offer.

"Well, Prongs or Moony would say I need something to do with my hands. As long as I'm busy like that, I can just stop thinking." Sirius shrugged. "So, what's troubling you with the transformation?"

"All this theory stuff is bogging me down. I mean, I can barely wrap my head around it," Regulus replied. While Sirius was cleaning the fridge, he offered helpful tips for Regulus, and answered all of the boy's questions.

"Annabel?" Peter's wavery voice called through the flat. She was probably mad at him for something he did but couldn't remember.

"Hmm?" Annabel's head popped out of the bedroom. "Oh, welcome home, Peter," she said in a distracted way.

"Why is there fabric all over the flat?" Peter asked after surveying his surroundings. Stretches of fabric were draped across all the furniture, and scraps and such were scattered all over the floor.

"Oh, I was just throwing some designs together," Annabel replied. "Lady Cassandra said that if I completed some things on my own time, she'd look over them and maybe even sell them in the shop." By the end of her explanation, Annabel was beaming. Her face showed the passion she held for designing.

"Oh. Is the bedroom a mess too? I'm tired?" Peter looked tired. He had dark circles under his eyes and he was sort of sagging.

"Oh, I'll be but a minute," Annabel said, rushing into the bedroom. When she came out, she was using a hover charm on a mound of fabric and other things, including a mannequin. "I might be up a little late designing," she admitted. "But sweet dreams!"

"Mmhmm," Peter said as he trudged into the bedroom. Annabel felt almost relieved that he didn't even give her a goodnight kiss on the cheek. She was a bit guilty about the night with Regulus, even though she knew he had no right to be angry with her for it. She was quickly distracted from her turbulent feelings while she made her sketches into reality.

"Those things smell horrid," Peter informed Regulus, who just shrugged, taking another puff from his cigarette. The two were in an alley, Regulus fishing for information that could be helpful to him, surrounded by big grey buildings. He wasn't quite sure why Peter had followed him, and he wasn't exactly pleased about it, but Sirius had said once that the rat was hard to shake. He obviously hadn't been kidding. "Why are you doing that?"

"If you don't like it, Pettigrew, you can fuck off," was Regulus' reply. He wasn't sure why, but the rat's presence just seemed to piss him off. Every time he was around Peter, Regulus' whole body just bristled with agitation. He wondered, vaguely, if it was his family loyalty kicking in, but he didn't pursue the thought. He wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

"You act like you actually _care_ about me betraying your brother," Peter replied, "when you're doing the exact same thing." Peter knew it was a daring move on his part. After all, Regulus could be dangerous. He had wild mood swings, just like his older brother. And he was a Death Eater, so he wasn't afraid to use Dark magic to make people bend to his will. Peter wondered briefly where he'd gotten the courage.

Regulus pulled the cancer stick away from his mouth and fixed Peter with an intimidating glare. "I make no pretenses about my intentions," Regulus replied harshly. "Sirius knows exactly why I wanted back in his life. You, on the other hand, are a conniving little rat. Opportunist, I believe the word is."

"_I'm_ the opportunist?" Peter was appalled. "You just wanted out of that harpy's house!"

"Of course you'd oversimplify the matter," Regulus muttered. "Yes I wanted away from my thrice be damned mother, but that's not all. Much as it bothers you, Pettigrew, Sirius is my brother. I have more claim to him than you have. Hell, I think pond scum has more claim to him than you have at this point."

"What are you trying to say, Black?" Pettigrew said in what he assumed was a threatening tone. It wasn't exactly scary unless you didn't know that all threats from Pettigrew were empty ones.

"I'm trying to say that you oughtn't make me out to be the bad guy. You're being a hell of a lot nastier to my brother than I am. He trusted you and there you go, throwing that trust away. You're not even worthy of their friendship, you traitor." Peter had never really noticed how really like Sirius Regulus was. He knew the exact words that would cut you the deepest, and it was one resemblance to the other Black boy that Peter could do without. The physical features, the affinity for sleeping around, that he could deal with, but when Regulus' shrewd observation led to the cutting insults that Peter had never been on the receiving end of, that was when Peter got worried.

Peter fumbled for a reply. "You betrayed him too!" he finally cried, pointing an accusing finger. "You were the only one in your family that Sirius was at all fond of, and then, as soon as he was made a Gryffindor, you turned on him just like all the others." Regulus knew this was true. He hated himself for it, but life would have been hell at home if he _hadn't_. Sirius knew that firsthand. And there was a reason Regulus wasn't made a Gryffindor: he was a coward. Whenever Sirius had stood up to their parents or other dangers, Regulus had always watched in awe and admiration. He had never been as brave as his brother, and he probably never would be.

"I don't know how you made Gryffindor," Regulus replied, tossing the cigarette butt on the ground and grinding it in the ground with his shoe until he knew it was out. "You're quite the coward." That was the phrase Peter had been dreading as soon as this conversation had taken a turn for the worse. Peter hated that he was so afraid. He hated that he wasn't as brave as James and Sirius, nor as strong or as smart. He was always Little Peter Pettigrew to be pitied. Everyone always patronized and looked down on him. He absolutely despised it.

It must have shown on his face, for Regulus smirked. "I see I've hit the nail on the head. You know you're a coward, that you're not worthy of them. That's what spurred this, isn't it?" His smirk just grew. That was one thing that was different about Regulus and Sirius, Peter had noticed. When Sirius was pleased with himself, he usually wore a smug smile or an impish grin. Regulus smirked. He looked like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Y-you don't know anything!" Peter stammered. Regulus did so love tormenting the rat. Maybe it was because he was named after a star in the Leo constellation, and Pettigrew was a rat. Cat and rat were natural enemies. Or maybe he took pleasure in the boy's pain because he was a sadist. More recently though, Regulus had decided that it was probably because he was pissed at how Peter treated those who cared about him, especially Annabel. Regulus didn't want to admit it, but he had a soft spot for the petite aspiring robe designer.

"I know a lot more than you," Regulus informed, a manic grin on his face. Peter watched him wide-eyed, too terrified to move. "I grew up in this world, if you forgot. Most of our comrades in arms," he sneered this part, "have been casual acquaintances of mine for most of my life. I could make life hell for most anyone." Regulus was bearing down on him and Peter was afraid he'd wet himself, or accidentally turn into a rat. It said in the animagus book he remembered reading when they were learning the process that when one feels like their animagus form, they can actually turn into the animal, especially if they have little control. "Especially a cowardly little rat like you," he said this last part so menacingly that Peter was surprised he _didn't _turn into a rat.

"Regulus," a cold, dry voice said. Peter never thought he'd be so grateful to see Severus Snape in his whole life.

"Sev," Regulus said casually.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked, an amused tilt to his eyebrow.

"Terrifying the rat," Regulus said with a pointed look.

"You're like a cat with a mouse," Severus muttered. "Do I really need to tell you to leave him alone?"

"He deserves it," Regulus replied. All this talking with Severus about potentially being nice to Peter was making him want another cigarette.

"Despite that, I doubt it will do anyone any good if you make the poor boy wet his pants. What kind of accomplishment is that?" Severus fixed Regulus with a serious stare.

"Oh but it's so very fun," Regulus pouted. Peter made a mental note of another relation between Regulus and his brother. When they were at Hogwarts, Sirius would likely have killed anyone for mentioning such things, but now Peter hoped he'd gotten past that point.

"Torment him later," Severus drawled. "You're supposed to be gathering information." Regulus had forgotten in his malicious glee. In fact, he wasn't even sure whether he was spying for Dumbledore or the Dark Lord at this point. Life was a confusing mess.

"Thanks, Snape," Peter mumbled, making his hasty escape. He definitely didn't want to be around Regulus any more than necessary.

"This shit's getting old," Regulus breathed, a tension suddenly fleeing from him when Peter left. "I can't even remember why I'm doing any of this."

"Well, it's a good sign if you can't remember why you're a Death Eater," Severus said quietly. "It means you've got a healthy, working conscience. If you can't remember why you're aiding the Order, then I suggest you get your head checked out." Severus shot Regulus a small smirk.

"It's not that. I mean, I get why I switched sides. That's not difficult. What I don't get is why the Dark Lord's being such a bastard," Regulus muttered. "This is a pointless war. It's just pain for all involved. Why do we have to fight?" He looked up at the sky, covered with oppressive grey clouds.

"I'd rather like to know that myself," Severus muttered in a quiet voice.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: See, I can update sort of regularly! Okay, I've had this written nearly as long as I've had Chapter 9 written. And because of all of my awesome readers, I'm working on one of the last chapters, if not the last chapter. I'm trying really hard to end everything, but I lost a lot of my plans when I forgot about the series for months at a time… That's what happens when I don't write things down. Anyway, because I think I'd go insane if I read through this, and I'm trying to wrap things up (in Chapter 12, if you're wondering. Chapter 11 is written), I'm not going to edit this. So it's unbeta'd and unedited. Sorry. I really hope you all will forgive me… and even send me pretty reviews (but only if you want to). Also, I go to school on Sunday, so I'll try to remember to update in my downtime (hopefully Chapter 12 will be done by then). Okay, I've rambled long enough. You're probably not even reading anymore… On to the disclaimer.**

_DISCLAIMER: If I owned this, do you really think this would be unedited? Actually, if I owned something and was writing fan fiction for it, it probably WOULD be unedited. So I amend my statement. Do you think that if I owned this, I would be messing around trying to get my JE videos on my iPod when I could just purchase them. Yeah. No._

Annabel was feeling a bit off. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew it wasn't a passing bug. Something was up; call it a woman's intuition. Lady Cassandra noticed it too.

"Sweetheart, is something wrong?" Lady Cassandra was one of those nosy, gossipy women who wore bright colors and shawls and jingling jewelry, and talked about the 'old days' when they were friends with the rich and famous. Despite all this, Annabel knew the woman's concern was real. After all, she was also one of those women with a big heart.

"I'm not sure," Annabel said slowly. "I have this nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that something's going on." She wondered if she looked as confused as she felt.

"Darling, I think you're lovesick," she said as if that was the answer to all life's maladies. Of course, Annabel wouldn't be surprised if it was. Love, or lack thereof, was the reason she and Peter were constantly at odds. Love was likely the cause behind her wandering thoughts meandering to Regulus whenever they got the chance. Could love be at fault for this feeling as well?

"No," she said, lost in thought. "It's not as if I love Peter." She almost snorted at the thought, but held back.

"I didn't say it had to be him," Cassandra said mysteriously. It stood to reason, considering that the woman had married around five men (and dated a good deal more). "Why are you with someone you don't love anyway?"

"I love his friends," she replied sadly. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I figure if he dumps me for lack of love, maybe they'll take pity on me."

"Oh, dear," Cassandra said in her warning tone. Annabel had come to associate it with people doing things the woman didn't like. "But as I was saying, it's not as if everyone's entirely faithful." There was a twinkle in her eyes.

"Th-that's ridiculous!" Annabel faltered. She knew Lady Cassandra wouldn't look down on her for it, but she just felt so wrong, cheating on Peter the way she did. It wasn't even the act itself; it was the fact that she was so caught up with Regulus.

"What's his name, Darling?"

"Regulus," she sighed, knowing she'd never beat the curiosity of the old witch.

"A lovely name. Is he a lion of a man?" She wore a devilish grin.

"If you must know, he's the brother of one of Peter's best friends," Annabel huffed.

"That's a difficult spot then," Lady Cassandra said thoughtfully. "Do you meet often?"

"We only did it the once," Annabel replied snootily. "While Peter was off on… business."

"But you've been thinking about it ever since," Cassandra said knowingly.

"Not it, _him_," Annabel corrected.

"So it is that you're lovesick." Cassandra wore a triumphant grin.

"No," Annabel replied. "This uneasiness didn't start until recently. I've been quite infatuated with Regulus much longer."

"Oh my," Cassandra said, looking surprised. She must have another idea.

"What?" Annabel asked, not liking being left out of the loop.

"Your monthly gift, dear," Cassandra said. Annabel thought that was a bit of a non sequitur.

"Gift my ass," she muttered. "What does that have to do with anything anyway?"

"When did you last receive the gift?" Cassandra asked.

"I told you it's not a gift!" Annabel cried. And then it hit her. Oh Merlin. She mentally went through dates and when she was finished, it was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her. "Oh my."

"When was the last time you and Peter…?" Lady Cassandra trailed off.

"Ages ago," Annabel replied. "Too long ago for it to have anything to do with this."

"Then that means…"

"Yes."

"Oh dear."

"Yes."

"Merlin's balls."

"I believe we already established that."

"Annabel, you must tell him." Lady Cassandra looked quite serious. "And Peter as well."

"I don't know," Annabel said quietly.

"You can't shoulder this on your own," Lady Cassandra said.

"I'm keeping it," Annabel stated determinedly.

"I know, dear. You'll always have a job here." Lady Cassandra gave her a soft gaze.

"Thank you."

"Regulus!" Sirius sang. Regulus resisted the urge to hex his brother.

"What?" He was so close to the animagus transformation. So very close.

"The lovely and fair Annabel is here to see you," Sirius said. "Don't ask me why. It could have something to do with that abominable rat; I'm not sure." Regulus nodded, coming up with a cover story in case Annabel really was here to talk about what he thought it was, and was stupid enough to try talking about it in front of Sirius.

"Hello," she said quietly. "Can we talk?"

"Follow me," Regulus said, leading her to his room. He closed the door quickly behind her and warded it so that Sirius and Remus couldn't listen in if they wanted to.

"I was under the impression that we weren't going to have a repeat performance," Regulus broke the uncomfortable silence first. Despite his words, he couldn't help stepping closer to Annabel.

"I'm pregnant," she blurted out. Regulus was shocked at first.

"The only reason you're here is because you're certain it's mine then." Regulus was a little hurt. He found he'd been wanting a repeat of the last time.

"I am certain, yes," she said quietly, "but that's not the only reason." Regulus wondered how much she was lying. "It just gave me an excuse," she said, tentatively stepping closer.

"So you wanted to see me?" he asked quietly, taking his own step towards her. If he weren't so afraid of her rejection, Regulus would have reached out and pulled her close.

"Of course I wanted to see you," she said in a small voice. He pulled her in then, tired of holding back. She leaned into the embrace.

"I'm keeping it, you know," Annabel said in an entirely more confident voice.

"Good," Regulus said, a smile resting on his face. "I hope I make a good dad."

"You'll make a great dad," she said into his chest.

"I want you to stay here," Regulus said. "We should at least try, for the baby."

"What about Peter?" Annabel asked.

"You're the one who doesn't love him, remember," Regulus reminded.

"What about Lily and James and Severus and Remus and Sirius?" spilled out of her mouth.

"They know about his betrayal, you know," Regulus told her. "And they'll understand."

"REGGIE!" Sirius was pounding on the door. "REGULUS, DAMMIT, YOU'VE MORE VISITORS."

Regulus undid the wards and opened the door angrily. "I'm busy."

"Well Bella wants to see you, and she brought that dolt she calls a husband along for the ride."

"Tell her I'm not home," Regulus ground out.

"Gryffindors do not lie," Sirius said solemnly.

"Sirius already told her Regulus was here," Regulus amended. "Just say I pulled a Rapunzel or something," Regulus shrugged.

"And who's your prince charming?" Sirius asked gleefully.

"Annabel."

"WHAT?" Sirius cried.

"Oh do hurry up!" Bellatrix called from the living room. Sirius winked at his brother and strode back out to the living room. Regulus listened quietly.

"It seems he's decided that he's going to live the life of a traveling bard," Sirius explained to their cousin. "So, you see, he's left most of his worldly possessions in the room we so kindly lent him. He left a note though."

"I want to see it," Bellatrix said, "to be sure it's not a forgery." Regulus heard Sirius' footsteps returning to his room, and Regulus hastily scrawled a note for him.

"Ah! Here it is," Sirius called as Regulus handed it to him.

"What did it say?" Annabel whispered. Regulus put a finger to his lips. Annabel pulled it away and replaced it with her own lips.

"_Dear Brother whom I love greatly_," Sirius read aloud. He was embellishing.

"It says 'Siri', and then one of them line thingies," Bellatrix said.

"It's called a dash," Sirius huffed. "And I was reading the subtext."

"In your own brain," Remus could be heard saying dryly.

"Who asked you, werewolf?" Bella huffed.

"_I've grown depressed of late_," Sirius continued, "_and have decided that the life of a nomadic bard is much more suited to me. I shan't be back, but you may write. I don't believe severing all ties with my current life is the wisest of decisions._" This was where Sirius deviated again from the note. "Our dear cousin Bella is mad. I think she's snorted one too many caterwaulers. If I never see Mum again, which I do hope I don't, tell her that I think she's a harpy and that she doesn't deserve to have two such fine sons as ourselves. If you-" Bella snatched the note out of his hands. Regulus heard the ripping.

"You lie, Black!" Bellatrix cried.

"He really did go off to be a bard," Sirius said. "I didn't lie about that." He paused momentarily. "Moony, if you're going to sob at the lost, at the very least go do it in our room. We've company."

"I will," Remus choked out, but it sounded more like laughter than sobs that he was trying to mask. Regulus waved as Remus went by the door, so Remus entered Regulus' room instead. Annabel looked amused, Remus was barely keeping himself from laughing, and Regulus was just shaking his head.

"A bard," Remus whispered.

"Sirius' idea," Regulus reminded him quietly.

"I want a look at these worldly possessions," Bella announced loudly. The three rushed across the hall and into Remus' and Sirius' room. Regulus had never actually been inside it before, and marveled. Remus had stacks and stacks of books piled everywhere. Sirius' broom was propped up in one corner, as well as his Beater's gloves and bat. A broom-care kit was sitting next to them.

"He hasn't much," Sirius replied casually. "He must have been preparing for life as a bard before he left."

"What's this?" Bellatrix sounded appalled.

"The bra of one of his conquests," Sirius replied simply. "Women love musicians. I really should have seen it coming."

"If I recall, Aunty made the both of you take up an instrument," Bellatrix said accusingly.

"Ah, well, you'll also remember that I chose the guitar," Sirius replied. "Mum pitched a fit over that one." Regulus heard the smirk dripping from his brother's face.

"Humph. I'll be leaving then. Come along, Rodo."

"Yes love," a low voice said quietly. It was the first time Annabel and Remus had ever heard the man speak. Regulus had heard him once or twice, when he and the Lestrange brothers had gotten pissed after meetings.

"Toodles!" Sirius said cheerfully. "Don't hesitate to be strangers!" Remus chuckled at that. When they heard the front door slam, Remus, Regulus and Annabel felt it was safe to leave the bedroom.

"A bard?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was under pressure," Sirius sniffed. "Now, why did the lovely and fair Annabel want to speak to my rogue of a brother?"

"I'm leaving Peter," she announced definitively.

"That's a shame. You're the only thing I've liked about him of late," Sirius said airily.

"That's not true, Pads," Remus said softly.

"Memories don't count," Sirius huffed. "May I ask why you're leaving him."

"Well, I cheated on him while he was on some mission or another," Annabel explained. "And I'm pregnant with the other man's child."

"Why did Reggie need to know this?" Sirius asked shrewdly. Regulus thought he was asking a few too many questions, really.

"Regulus is the father," Annabel said softly.

"Ah. I told you he was a rogue," Sirius informed her.

"I seduced him!" Annabel yelled in outrage.

"It didn't take much seducing," Regulus pointed out. "I was pretty damn willing."

"I'm sure you were. The Black men are all whores," Sirius proclaimed dramatically. "That is, of course, until we find that special someone who can utterly destroy us if we cheat on them."

"So you're with me out of fear?" Remus asked in a dangerous tone.

"Well, I love you too," Sirius said sheepishly. "And full moons are always rather kinky, but you _could_ snap me in half, had I the gall to cheat on you."

"Digging your own grave, mate," Regulus informed his brother. "Better stop while you're not too far behind."

"OH MOONY! I DO SO LOVE THEE! I JUST SAY THESE THINGS TO BE FACETIOUS!" Sirius cried, dropping onto his knees and begging.

"I forgive you," Remus said. "Just remember, you own me another sexual favor."

"Moony, I owe you all the sexual favors in the world," Sirius replied, standing back up as if he hadn't just been groveling.

"Is it all right if Annabel moves in?" Regulus asked, returning to the matter at hand.

"You ought to get your own place," Sirius replied. "Can't raise a family in the same apartment as a werewolf and his horny boyfriend."

"With stress on the latter person," Remus added, a sharp look at Sirius.

"Well, at least while we look for a place," Regulus replied.

"Of course," Sirius smiled.

"I cannot believe him," Severus was pacing back and forth in the Potters' kitchen, ranting. "He's going to get Pettigrew killed."

"How?" Lily asked. "And if this is a slippery slope argument, I don't want to hear it."

"Life is a slippery slope, Lily," Snape snapped.

"Of course it is," she replied calmly. "You know, Peter's a big boy. He can take care of himself. In fact, he's been dumped before."

"Has he ever been cheated on?" Snape turned and glowered at her.

"Multiple times," Lily replied easily. "He rather expects it at this point. Besides, he was cheating on her."

"He what?" Snape looked shocked. Rose let out a whimper. Harry, more afraid of his mother, just continued banging things against the tray of his highchair.

"You didn't know? I'd thought it was fairly obvious," Lily replied. "Mind, James and company _did_ stalk me for six years, so I suppose I'm rather well-versed in their ways."

"They tormented me," Snape pointed out.

"I lived in the same tower as them," Lily added. "And I was the only prefect actually had the heart to punish them, though I hear Remus used to take points when he was feeling particularly controlling."

"Did the boys know he was cheating on her?" Severus asked.

"I'm sure they did," Lily replied. "It's surprisingly difficult to keep secrets from James and Sirius. They're ridiculously nosy, and Remus reads people just as easily as he reads books."

"Yet I had to tell you he was a traitor," Snape muttered.

"Well it's not as if we weren't used to him pouting all the time," Lily replied. "It was always fairly obvious that he felt inferior to the others. It was just a matter of time before he did something about it, I suppose." She looked thoughtful. "I guess we just never thought he had it in him."

"Petunia ought to be here any moment," Severus replied calmly. Lily nodded.

"Lily, darling, you'll never guess what!" Petunia cried from the front door. She immediately went to the kitchen, where she knew Severus and Lily had to be.

"What?" Lily asked, forcing a smile for her sister, happily taking her nephew into her arms.

"I'm pregnant again!" Petunia cried jovially. "Oh, I do so hope this time it's a girl."

"You hear that, Dudley?" Lily asked the boy. "You're going to be a big brother!"

"Did you tell Vernon?" Snape asked calmly.

"Of course, of course." Petunia waved it off. "I called him this morning at the office. He was thrilled, mind, but he really wants another boy, so we're a bit torn."

"I can only imagine how badly Vernon would spoil a daughter," Lily said, smiling. "And James, of course, is going to be ten times worse with little Rosie."

"My god," Severus muttered, only now thinking of that possibility.

"If I have a girl, I'm going to name her Cupcake," Petunia said decidedly. "All the flower names in the family would make things just atrocious."

"And you couldn't pick something normal?" Lily asked, horrified. Her sister really was cruel when it came to naming children.

"I don't want my darlings to be normal!" Petunia cried. "I have to do _something_ to make them special next to their magical relatives."

"You know, Tuney, I wouldn't be surprised if Dudley ended up a wizard," Lily replied lovingly. "I know it would be difficult for you, but magic tends to be fickle like that."

"It's true," Snape replied. "There's a very good chance that your children will be magic, considering the fact that your sister is a witch."

"All the better!" Petunia cried. "They'll be extra special next to Harry!"

"Considering Lily, they will be talented, despite their muggle family," Severus said in a dry, factual tone, "but Harry, coming from a line like the Potters, will likely be extraordinary even in the wizarding world."

"Heaven forbid he inherits his father's quidditch skills _and_ his ego," Lily muttered disdainfully.

And then, a great silvery dog that looked distinctly like Sirius' animagus form bounded into the room. Lily recognized it as his Patronus. "Lily, trouble. Headquarters," it said in a rushed manner. As this happened, Severus clenched his fists, his face looking pained.

"Battle," was all they said to each other before Severus apparated away.

"Tuney, can you watch the kids," Lily said quickly. "Take them back to Surrey, if you could."

"Of course."

"There are car seats in the kids' bedroom. I'm sure you know where." And with that, Lily apparated away as well.

Annabel was in the flat she and Peter shared, packing up her things. Sirius, Remus and Regulus had hurried off, the first two to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, Regulus off to some creepy graveyard, most likely. They'd mentioned something about a battle, and Annabel knew that, reasonably, she shouldn't expect Regulus to be alive at the end of the night. From what she'd heard, these battles had a tendency to be very fatal to those involved.

Annabel didn't care about any of that. She felt that if she wished hard enough, Regulus would come back safe and sound, no worse for the wear. Her child needed a father, after all, and she was most definitely not going to let that father be Peter Pettigrew. And she couldn't keep this flat anymore. It was dark and disgusting, and she just couldn't take it anymore.

As she flicked her wand, making all her designs and fabric fold themselves neatly into organized stacks, she wondered why she was still there. Her plan had been to move out the day she'd found out about the baby, but she would have to tell Peter. Despite all of it, she still dreaded telling him that he wasn't going to be a part of her life anymore.

Peter had cheated on her. Peter had betrayed his friends. Peter was a bad man. Annabel often wondered why she'd been attracted to him in the first place. She remembered that he was a sweet, shy boy when she'd met him. Ernest and endearing, Peter had looked so dreadfully terrified when he'd asked her out. Annabel just couldn't help but say yes. As the dates dragged on, however, he'd grown more and more rat-like in appearance, and she'd started learning things about him that she didn't like. But she'd stuck with him. By the time she'd started to resent him, it was too late; she was already attached to his friends, too far gone to be saved.

And she'd been afraid they'd reject her. She wasn't the same as them. She didn't have the shared history, the funny anecdotes. She was just the clinger-on. She was what Peter felt he was. That hurt her most of all. And then, Regulus had joined them; become a part of the whole that had been just fine without him, thanks, but now it couldn't be without him. He was gorgeous and lovely and kind. It was really no wonder Annabel had fallen so hard for him; most girls did.

Suddenly, at every gathering, instead of feeling like she didn't belong, she found herself trying to be a part of the group and impress Regulus. And she'd succeeded in one area. She was now inexorably part of the group. And she'd talked to Regulus more and more and fallen harder and harder. And then, one night, when Peter was gone, she could no longer control herself, but it didn't seem to matter because Regulus felt the same way.

Annabel wondered what these people had done to her life. Before she'd met Peter's friends-the Marauders he called them, always the Marauders plus Lily or Snape or Regulus, but always the Marauders-she'd lived a normal, quiet life. As soon as she'd spent one night in their company, however, she was dragged into this world where nothing went according to plan. It was chaos, beautiful chaos, and the Marauders reveled in it, despite Remus' many protests to the contrary. Lily and Severus, even, were quite at peace in this world, but Annabel was hardly used to it.

"Shit! Shit! Cloak! Shit!" Peter cried as he burst into the flat. "Annabel, where's my cloak!"

"On the coat rack," Annabel pointed with the hand that wasn't holding her wand.

"What are you doing?" He asked, noticing the boxes.

"We'll talk later. You've things to do," she replied kindly. "Go." So he did. She sighed. He always seemed so relieved to be out of her company.

Regulus was rather angry. He hated battles. Despised them, really. He didn't like to fight, after all. He was an information gatherer. When the Death Eaters were outnumbered in battles like this, the Dark Lord didn't seem to give a flying fuck.

That wasn't his only reason for being angry, of course. He'd been practicing his animagus transformation with his brother, Remus and Annabel. He'd been so close. At least, Sirius had said he had. According to the wise Sirius Black, when one started sprouting ears and tails, one was very close to mastering the transformation. Regulus had been sprouting the ears and tail for three days and he'd seen no further progress.

No matter how badly the Dark Lord wanted him to fight, Regulus always stayed off at the fringes of the battle. And by the fringes, of course, he meant up in a tree, watching and waiting to Stun people from above with the element of surprise. It worked rather well for him, and he didn't have to kill anyone. Of course, he had to use at least one Unforgivable during a battle or he'd never live it down, but that was simple. He just had to 'accidentally' use the Imperious Curse on one of his fellow Death Eaters and walk him calmly into the line of fire of an Order member.

The battle was moving away from him, but Regulus didn't want to leave his tree. He didn't want to risk sliding down, just to be Stunned by someone who didn't know he was a spy for the Order (which was a great many) or killed by someone who had figured out what he was doing with his Imperious Curses.

So instead, he decided to practice the animagus transformation. After all, if he was a cat, he could leap through the trees. Mind, a sandy-colored cat in the middle of the night was rather conspicuous, but he'd burn that bridge when he came to it. And anyways, he didn't exactly expect much.

You can imagine how surprised he was, then, that he got the transformation on the first try. Sirius had said it would come when he least expected it. In fact, Sirius had said that it would happen when he stopped wanting it so much. Remus had said that they'd been on the way to Hogsmeade for some illicit booze when it had happened. Sirius had been the first of the three to master it, but James had come not long after.

But Regulus in cat form really didn't like thinking this much. Cat-Regulus just wanted to get as far away from the damned battle as he could, so he jumped down from his tree, and wandered toward the town. He was quite glad that the battle had pulled away from it because he really didn't like killing muggles any more than he liked killing wizards. It also meant that the Order was gaining ground.

Cat-Regulus decided that, if asked, he would pretend someone had Confunded him or some such thing. That way, he couldn't really be punished for losing sight of the battle, and instead wandering off. It had worked for people like Goyle who had once tripped over his own feet and knocked himself out.

"Prongsie, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sirius asked when he and James were surrounded by Death Eaters. He was referring to a prank they'd pulled in their fifth year by creating a mini-tornado. James, it seemed, was thinking what he was thinking.

"597?" he asked. The boys had numbered their pranks, making quite sure that they could use them again sometime if the occasion arose. Well, Remus had numbered them, knowing quite well that James and Sirius would need to reference them at some point. Failed attempts and plans that never went through were numbered as well because Remus had numbered them as the planning sheets had appeared.

"That's the one," Sirius replied with a grin. They preformed the charm which worked well. All of the Death Eaters were knocked about and ended up lying unconscious, all about five feet away from the boys.

"82!" Remus cried to the two of them. He seemed a bit pressed considering Fenrir Greyback was moving toward him predatorily. Fenrir knew Remus was a werewolf, but Fenrir was definitely an alpha and was probably twice as broad as the frail Remus.

"_ARGENTUM BONDUS!_" James and Sirius cried together. Silver ropes shot from their wands and bound themselves around Greyback. The prank reference had been a failed attempt to bother Snape. James and Sirius were quite certain that Severus was a vampire in the middle of their first year and had suggested it. They'd even found the charm, thinking that silver was a great way to bind a vampire. Remus then reminded them that it was werewolves who were harmed by silver, not vampires.

"Thanks," Remus said, looking terrified at the sight of Greyback writhing on the ground, trying to get away from the silver. "I never thought that would come in handy."

"I'm very handsy!" Sirius replied jovially, stunning a Death Eater in mid-air as the man tried to jump on him.

"Guys!" Peter cried pitifully. There were great gashes all over his body, and he was lying in a dark puddle. He was losing blood and fast. The Marauders knew that if they didn't get him help quick, he'd be dead within the hour.

"What happened?" Remus asked, horrified.

"Someone used a _Diffindo on me," Peter explained._

"_You're bleeding everywhere, mate," Sirius said, attempting levity. It didn't work._

"_Shit, Pete," James muttered. "We should get you to Pomfrey."_

"_No, you guys keep fighting," he replied. "I'll be fine. It's not as bad as it looks."_

"_That's still pretty bad," Sirius said. "I mean, you're covered in cuts, Wormtail, and I don't think that puddle was there before you."_

"_No, no, I promise," Peter replied adamantly. "I fell into this puddle, I swear. I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me. We have to win this battle," he tried feebly._

"_We know you're a double agent," James said simply. "We know that you'd be perfectly fine with the Death Eaters winning."_

"_And I can smell that it's all your blood," Remus added sternly._

"_I would not!" Peter squeaked in reply to James. "I want the Order to win!"_

"_You're one of them," Sirius replied stonily._

"_But I'm not!" Peter cried. "I mean, I am, but I didn't-I-" he stammered._

"_It doesn't matter, Pete," Remus said gently. "Now we'll get you to Pomfrey, and she'll restore your blood. You really ought to stop talking. You're wasting too much energy. Any more blood and you're a goner."_

"_Just go fight! I'm not worthy of you guys anymore!" Peter cried, angry now. "I was never worth of you, but you liked me anyways, and then I went and betrayed you all, and now I really don't deserve you!"_

"_Wormtail," James said in a warning tone._

"_You've always belonged," Remus said quietly._

"_Doesn't matter how worthy you are," Sirius added. "A Marauder's a Marauder."_

"_That's for a lifetime," James said._

"_And your lifetime's not up, Pete," Sirius finished._

"_C'mon," Remus said, going for one arm, as Sirius went for the other. They were physically the strongest of the four, and Remus could probably carry Peter himself with his werewolfishness, but with Sirius' help, it wouldn't be much work at all._

"_Up we go," Sirius added._

"_NO!" Peter was sobbing now. "I don't deserve it! I'm evil!"_

"_You're not evil, Pete," James said seriously. "Now let us get you to Pomfrey."_

"_I can't!" Peter cried. "I just wanted to be brave like you!"_

"_You are brave," Remus replied. "It takes a lot of bravery to take James and Sirius seriously." There was a small, sad smile playing on his face._

"_And it takes a lot of courage to tell us all this," James put in._

"_But mostly, it takes loads of courage to defy one Marauder, let alone three, and tell them you don't want your life anymore." Sirius looked at Peter seriously. "Is this what you really want."_

"_It's better this way," Peter replied. "Annabel wants to leave me anyway. I can see it in her eyes. This way, we don't have to worry about it. No one has to get hurt."_

"_We're hurt, Wormy," Remus replied, tears pricking at his eyes._

"_You'll get over it. You're better off without me," Peter replied. "You guys were about ready to dump me too. Sirius isn't very subtle when he's angry with someone." There was a watery smile on Peter's face and tears in his eyes. His voice was getting quieter and quieter, but that was okay. The battle was moving away from them anyways. It seemed to know not to interrupt this._

"_Not a chance," James said simply._

"_We told you, a Marauder is a Marauder for life," Sirius said shaking his head stubbornly. "And it's not your time to go." Peter was shocked to feel Sirius' tears splattering on his face. He couldn't remember any other time he'd seen Sirius cry. James was wiping his eyes behind his glasses._

"_It's better this way," Peter said quietly. "I'm just holding you back."_

"_You're not!" Sirius shouted. He'd always been the one to turn any negative emotion into fury. Remus bottled it up, let his emotions come and go quietly, unless it was near the full moon, when he exploded. James just let his emotions happen. Sirius tried not to have emotion, but every once in a while, he would shout. Peter thought it was the worst, seeing the one person who was impossible to affect storming, raging, crying._

"_Let me go, Padfoot," Peter replied. "It's too late._

"_Once more," James said quietly. "The oath once more. I, Prongs."_

"_I, Wormtail," Peter joined._

"_I, Moony," Remus said. His tear-filled eyes were watching Sirius, not Peter, at that moment._

"_I, Padfoot, solemnly swear I, and all Marauders everywhere, are up to no good."_

"_Mischief managed," Peter said as he closed his eyes. Those were his last words._


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I hadn't intended to update this quickly, but I thought "hey, why not?", especially as I've just finished writing the final chapter, chapter 12. As far as this chapter and the next go, I apologize if there are inconsistencies between them and the other chapters. Try to recall that large periods of time have gone in between bits and pieces of this story. And if the timeline in the story seems off anywhere, well, that's why. As far as the story goes, I'm perfectly content to let it end with Chapter 12, however, if you want an epilogue, I could probably manage one. Tell me your opinion on the matter. I leave it up to you, my readers! This chapter is, like the last one, unbeta'd and unedited. I don't mean to seem lazy, but I just want the parts out. As it is, there's probably a few typos that I'd change if edited, but that's about it. Read on, my fair audience!**

_Disclaimer: If it hasn't been made clear the last ten times that I don't own this, then I don't know what to say to you. Because really, I don't own this. That's Jo Rowling and her publishers and whatnot. And considering what happened in the books, do you think she'd appreciate my version of events? Yeah, probably not._

Annabel moved in with Regulus not long after Peter's funeral. The boys treated her well enough as she expanded and grew more and more moody. Despite the death of their friend, however, the Marauders weren't ones for moping and grieving. Instead, they played practical jokes in his honor, or reused some of Peter's favorites.

"We need a fourth," Sirius muttered as he, Remus, and James sat at the kitchen table in the flat. Annabel was sewing and Regulus was slinking around in his cat form, still rather impressed with himself. The three remaining Marauders all were all hunched over an old diagram.

"Someone small," James added. "This one really did center around Peter's abilities."

"I think I know what we can do," Remus replied. Annabel had noticed him watching Regulus carefully. She wondered if the wolf in him felt predatorily towards the cat-animagus.

"Care to share, love?" Sirius asked, watching Remus with amusement.

"Well, he's not nearly so small," Remus said slowly.

"But he is good at sneaking around," James replied, catching on.

"Nah, I'd say it's more of a slinking," Sirius corrected. "But he's definitely made for this."

"Full circle then, I'd say," James stated. Annabel was confused.

"He only needs a nickname," Sirius said, obviously understanding James. And then Annabel realized they were talking about _her_ Regulus. It was full circle because Peter had started out good and went to the bad, and Regulus had started on the bad and ended up good.

"Whiskers?" Remus suggested.

"If we can think of nothing else," Sirius said. "Something with two syllables would fit the order best."

"Moony, Whiskers, Padfoot and Prongs," James listed. "I think it works."

"It's likely the best we can do," Sirius replied mournfully. "It's such a waste of my amazing intellect. We were so good at this five years ago."

"Five years is a long time," Remus replied simply.

"Regulus, I swear to Merlin I will hex you if you try to play with my thread one more time," Annabel warned.

"Be lucky he's not chewing your shoes," Remus said disdainfully, aiming a pointed look at his own boyfriend.

"But they're so tasty!" Sirius cried defensively. "And Prongs'll eat anything."

"That's goats, Padfoot," James said angrily.

"Well you're just a glorified goat," Sirius replied haughtily. "I, on the other hand, am a beautiful canine. None can resist my charm!"

"MEOW!" Cat-Regulus said loudly. He looked rather annoyed with it all.

"We don't understand cat, Reggie," Sirius taunted. "If you'd like to talk, perhaps acting human would help."

Regulus returned to his human form, but said nothing.

"Whiskers," James snickered. "That's hilarious."

"You're not calling me that, are you?"

"Little slow to the draw there, Reggie," Sirius smirked.

"Which is to say, yes, we are," James added.

"Welcome to the Marauders, our band of furred rogues!" Sirius cried jovially.

"We'll have to teach you the Code of Honor and other such rot," James explained. "But it should be fun."

"And you shan't be referred to as a 'founding' or 'original' member," Sirius pointed out. "Because that wouldn't be truthful."

"Really, above all else, Marauders are truthful," James agreed. Remus snorted. "Right, well, we're truthful when it's convenient."

"Which is to say almost never." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Well, the dynamics have changed quite a bit, you know," James informed. "I mean, when we started this little group, it was four eleven-year-old boys."

"One was an unloved werewolf, one was the much-less-liked firstborn son of a ridiculously old-fashioned pureblood family, one was a bit unsure of himself, and one was the most driven preteen ever," Sirius listed.

"And now?" Remus asked, seeming to be interested in the answer.

"One's a gay werewolf, one's a the devilishly handsome and well-spoken boyfriend of said gay werewolf, one's a dead Death Eater, one's the father of a burgeoning polygamist family, and one is a snotty spy and future father." Sirius beamed, proud of himself.

"Why am I snotty?" Regulus asked at the same time James cried, "It's not polygamist yet!" Remus just shook his head, wondering why he'd asked.

"You're the youngest," Sirius chose to answer his brother first. Then he turned to James, "and you and the Lilster and Ickle Sevie-poo have the ceremony set up for next month. I'm excited, by the way. I get a second best man's speech." Sirius smiled evilly. No one had the heart to inform him it was technically only bigamy. "And I'm sure Sevie-kins will ask young Regulus to be his maid-of-honor."

"Oh hell no," Regulus replied. "I'm nobody's maid."

"Reggie, be a dear and pick up my sewing for me," Annabel said after dropping it on the floor. Regulus did as asked. She patted him on the head. "You're a good maid. I ought to give you a raise… or better quarters."

"I like this one, Reg." Sirius chuckled.

"Come on, Bell," Regulus said, taking her hand. "We have some houses to look at."

"What?" Annabel was shocked.

"You couldn't possibly be planning to raise your child in a flat with _that_?" James asked, pointing at Sirius. "I still can't believe he conned me into naming him Harry's godfather."

"Who else would you have chosen? I'm your best mate!" Sirius cried.

"Remus."

"No, no, silly! He's the godmother!" Sirius cried as if it was obvious. Sirius cowered at the glower from Remus that followed. "Whoopsies! I forgot it's his time of the month."

"If you make one more allusion to my supposed-femininity, Sirius Black, I will seriously maim you." Remus was glaring. Sirius was cowering. Annabel, James and Regulus were giggling.

"Well, I've got to go back to domestic bliss," James announced.

"And we've got house hunting to do," Regulus added, taking Annabel by the hand. All three left the two lovebirds to their fight.

Annabel didn't know where she was, mostly because the pregnancy had left her subject to the whims of those who could side-along apparate her. What she saw was a lovely walk up to a picturesque cottage, complete with shrubbery in the front and a path to what she assumed was a lovely garden and a back yard.

"So, what do you think?" Regulus asked her.

"I think I'm in love, and I haven't even seen the inside yet," Annabel replied.

"Then we'll go inside," Regulus said simply, pulling her along.

In the house was just as lovely and cute as the outside. The living room was spacious enough for a small family, and there was a large fireplace, obviously to accommodate the needs of a wizarding family. The kitchen was cozy and had a lovely look onto the back yard. There was a stove and various other muggle appliances, as well as a cauldron and potions station for the average housewife. Regulus led her down the hall to the bedrooms. There were three, as well as a study. Annabel was impressed.

"Can we afford this?" She asked Regulus.

"You forget, love, that I come from old money," he replied. She did often forget this fact and so didn't say anything. "This is definitely a much better place to raise a child than the old family home," he added.

"What will your mum say when you take the money out to buy a house?" Annabel asked.

"Technically, I've got more right to the money than her, being a Black by blood," he replied. "Though Sirius is the heir. When Father died, I'm pretty sure the account transferred over to his name. Honestly, though, I don't think Mum would mind too terribly. You might have to meet her." Regulus looked ponderous. Annabel didn't like the stories she'd heard about Mrs. Black. She didn't think she could tolerate _meeting_ the woman.

"Perhaps we should look at something more modestly priced. A two-bedroom flat, or something," Annabel said quietly. "Something we could pay the rent on jointly."

"Why? We can afford a house," Regulus asked simply. "I'll work it out," he insisted. "If I have it my way, you won't have to meet Mum anyways. I don't think she'd take too well to someone taking her precious Regulus away from her anyways."

"You cannot, sir, take from me what any thing that I will more willing part withal," Annabel quoted in a silly voice. Regulus just raised an eyebrow. "_Hamlet_," she replied as way of explanation. Regulus looked confused. "Don't you know who William Shakespeare is?" She was shocked. "_Hamlet_ was one of his most famous plays!"

"Was he a muggle?" Regulus asked simply.

"I suppose so," Annabel replied. "Though I've never met someone who hadn't even heard of the playwright!"

"He's that famous then?" Regulus asked.

"Ask Remus about him," Annabel replied. "Or Lily. I'm sure they could give you an earful."

Harry crawled over to Sirius and pulled at the hem of his robes. Sirius looked down at him curiously. "Yes?" he asked. Harry giggled at being addressed directly.

"I think he wants you to turn into a dog," James explained, not looking up from the _Daily Prophet_ crossword.

"Why would he want such a thing?" Remus asked to no one in particular. "He's even more of a nuisance as a dog than he is as a human."

"Hey, what the boy wants, the boy gets. He's Baby Harry, after all." Sirius shrugged, turning into a dog before Remus could make the argument that he was spoiling the boy.

The great black dog licked Harry's face, and he giggled. As the two played across the living room, Lily entered.

"What in Merlin's name is Black doing with my son?" she asked sternly. "Doesn't he know how dangerous that is?"

"Let it alone, Lily," James said, still not looking up. "All little boys should get hurt now and again. Besides, it'll make him think twice of playing with Snuffles again." The dog paused his romp to growl at James. "Not my fault. Lily's mad."

"Mummy's here, Harry!" Lily cried, scooping the boy up. He reached for Sirius, who was wagging his tail and giving Lily the puppy eyes.

"I do believe the boy was having fun," Remus pointed out. Lily scowled, but set Harry on Sirius' back and held him there.

"Come along, Padfoot," Lily cooed. Harry giggled happily as Sirius started walking.

"Is this the scene you imagined as you pursued Lily, James?" Remus asked. James looked up from the paper.

"Vaguely. I must admit, though, I really didn't see you and Padfoot together for most of the time."

"Who did?" Lily asked. Padfoot barked.

"Sirius often claims that he always knew I was his one true love, but he had to get his kicks in first. He's not James, after all." Remus shook his head.

"Did you know?" Lily asked Remus. She usually didn't ask about the more personal details of Sirius and Remus' pairing, but as long as Sirius was rendered incapable of human speech she was slightly more willing.

"Not exactly," Remus replied. "Things were always different with him though. I just chalked it up to our similar canine natures."

Lily picked Harry up, deeming it nap time, and Sirius changed back. "I knew," he stated.

"So all those cries of 'I was drunk!' after you snogged Mathew Bodes were entirely coincidental?" Remus asked, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"I was repressing," Sirius insisted. "But deep down, in the core of my being, I knew that Moony was the only one for me. I mean, he's so dreamy!" No one was quite sure if Sirius was kidding or not, but that was an everyday occurrence when it came to the dog animagus.

"Sirius, don't you have to-" Remus started.

"Be getting off to work? Shit," Sirius muttered looking worried about being late. "I'm going to be late!"

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date," Remus recited.

"No time to say hello. Goodbye! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" Lily finished as she reentered the living room. James and Sirius stopped to stare at them.

"Muggle movie," Remus replied. Sirius then apparated out.

"I wish he wouldn't do that," Lily muttered. "It's utterly disturbing."

"Most civilized wizards go to the coatroom," James admitted.

"Well there you go," Remus replied. "Our Sirius isn't civilized."

"_Our_?" James asked with a chuckled. "I hate to tell you, mate, but he's all yours."

"Fan-bloody-tastic," Remus muttered. "After living with him for seven years yourself, I figured you'd have a bit of sympathy for me."

"No luck there, apparently," Lily said. "Where is Severus?"

"His lab," James replied. "And he's got a meeting with Dumbledore at six, so I wouldn't expect him home in time for dinner."

"Well it's not as if anyone's coming over," Lily replied.

"Because most of us are busy tonight," Remus informed. "I don't know about your sister," he added, "but Mrs. Black got it into her head that dinner with her two sons was a brilliant idea, never mind the fact that she disowned one of them five years ago."

"Padfoot did always say she was batty," James said by way of reply. He didn't look too sympathetic. "I think she just doesn't get out as much as she'd like, so she needs to bring people into her home to curse and complain about."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Remus muttered. "I must admit, though, that I don't know if it's going to be the safest of environments. I mean, there's Sirius, the queer blood traitor, me, the gay werewolf, perfect little Reggie-kins, and Annabel, pregnant out of wedlock with the beloved son's child."

"That definitely is not going to go over well," Lily replied. "I don't envy you, that's certain."

"I don't blame you," Remus replied, a scowl on his face. "I've only ever met Mrs. Black once when we were getting off of the Hogwarts express. She was-" Remus couldn't think of the word he wanted.

"Foul," James suggested, having met her on a similar occasion.

"Ill-tempered?" Lily guessed.

"Repugnant," Remus decided.

"That's a good one," Lily agreed. "A very acceptable adjective for someone who has had Sirius' rather colorful vocabulary describe her often enough."

"Indeed," James agreed.

"Oh dear Merlin, Moony. I think I'm going to faint dead away," Sirius said, leaning heavily on the werewolf.

"You'll be fine," Remus said, pushing him into a more upright position.

"And if I get piss drunk tonight?" Sirius asked.

"There will be no congratulatory sex," Remus replied simply.

"Wait, you never said there was going to be sex at the end of the night," Sirius turned to face the werewolf accusingly.

"Well, if you get through tonight with as little conflict as possible, there's the possibility." Remus smiled suggestively.

"You dog, you!" Sirius cried, then immediately knocked on the door, a wide grin on his face. Remus was proud that he was able to so easily manipulate Sirius into a good mood. Well, good for visiting his mother, that is.

"Oh, you're here," Mrs. Black said, not sounding enthused. "I half-expected you wouldn't come."

"I replied in the affirmative to your letter," Sirius said, a frown on his face. "And Moony-excuse me, Remus- never passes up an opportunity to watch me make a right fool of myself."

"I daresay you do a lot of that," Mrs. Black replied, showing them in.

"He does," Remus agreed, shooting a mischievous grin at his boyfriend.

"Regulus and that tart should be here soon," Mrs. Black informed them. "Why don't you wait in the sitting room? I'm sure you remember where it is." She shot a cold glare at her eldest son.

"And what will you be doing?" Sirius asked. "Molesting the portrait of Father you keep in your bedroom?"

"Hardly," Mrs. Black replied icily. "I will be checking up on the house elves, to make sure dinner is in order." The bell then rang. "Go on," she snapped. Sirius smirked before grabbing Remus' hand and dragging him off in the direction of the sitting room.

"She's an absolute terror," Sirius said gleefully. "Nothing's changed."

"What, you were worried she had?" Remus asked.

"She invited me to dinner," Sirius said as if that obviously meant something was incredibly wrong with his mother.

"Merlin, Mum!" they heard Regulus cry. "The place is dingier than I remember! Would it kill you to have the house elves actually clean properly?"

"Only he could get away with that," Sirius muttered, hearing his mother's tones turn doting and sweet.

"He must remind her of your father," Remus replied, sounding logical.

"Ha! I'm more like Father than Reg!" Sirius cried. "After all, I'm never around here!"

"And when you are, are you like your father?" Remus asked, an eyebrow raised pointedly.

"Neither of us is like him in personality," Sirius said. "He was terrible."

"Evil," Regulus added, sitting down. "We are talking about Father, right?"

"The one and only," Sirius said.

"Man, he made the way Mr. Potter treated me look like a warm welcome," Regulus muttered.

"Yeah, Mr. Potter's a pretty skeptical bloke. He watched me and James like a hawk. Like we were trying to get in trouble!" Sirius let out a guffaw. He was met with blank stares. "What?"

"You probably were," Remus pointed out.

"But he didn't know that!" Sirius cried.

"Pads, James is his son," Remus reminded Sirius.

"Oh, right."

"Don't be an imbecile, Sirius," he mother chided, walking in.

"You didn't hear the conversation," Sirius countered, glaring. Remus gave him a warning look.

Dinner was served soon, and Mrs. Black continually made underhanded insults to Annabel, who was ignoring them with grace. Sirius was goading his mother, who was rising to his bait, Regulus was trying to ignore it all, and Remus was feeling embarrassed by all that was going on.

"You, werewolf," Mrs. Black turned to address him. Sirius snickered. "You haven't turned Sirius into a beast like you, have you." This made Sirius howl with laughter.

"No ma'am," Remus said quietly.

"Sirius, stop laughing," Mrs. Black snapped. "Honestly, I don't see what's funny."

"It's because Remus is one of the most reserved people we know, Mum," Regulus explained while Sirius fought to control himself.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she snapped at him. It surprised everyone else that she had snapped at her favorite son.

"You called him a beast," Regulus explained slowly. "But Remus doesn't act like a beast at all. In fact, Sirius acts more like a beast than Remus."

"You're being utterly ridiculous, Regulus. Have these boys been poisoning your brain? Obviously they've poisoned Annabel's. I mean, how disgraceful." Remus and Sirius noticed that Regulus was getting a little fed up with his mother.

"They haven't poisoned anyone." Regulus scowled at Mrs. Black.

"I enrich lives," Sirius added. "People meet me and say 'I want to be friends with that Sirius Black. He's a fun bloke.'"

"You still go by my surname?" Mrs. Black asked, surprised.

"No, I go by father's surname, which is also _my_ surname," Sirius explained slowly. "You're only a Black by marriage. Besides, if I didn't go by the family name, how could I leave an impression about us on people? Mum, I don't think you think these things through."

As Sirius was shaking his head at his mother, Remus muttered under his breath, "you don't think." Sirius nudged him angrily under the table.

"Well, I suppose that's best. I'm sure Annabel still goes by _her_ father's surname. What a state your mother must be in." Mrs. Black's dark eyes glittered tauntingly as she gave Annabel a disapproving look.

"Merlin, Mum! Would you stop that! I love Annabel, dammit, and you keep insulting her! If you don't stop then I'm going to have to cut you off from father's money," Regulus threatened.

"You can't do that! The money's in Sirius' name," Mrs. Black replied haughtily.

"But I like Regulus more than I like you," Sirius replied. "You would have to make an airtight argument to make me side with you… and I'd have to be in a good mood, so you'd have to make sure Moony and I were, you know, happy." Sirius wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

"Yes, well, that Annabel-"

"That's IT!" Regulus shouted, grabbed Annabel by the hand and stormed out of the dining room.

"That was always me," Sirius sighed wistfully. "Well, I think I'll be taking my leave. I wouldn't want Regulus to start the flat on fire while we're out. Thank you for the lovely dinner, Mum." Sirius smiled and walked out.

"I'm so very sorry, Mrs. Black," Remus apologized. "He's so very rude. Dinner was delicious, and the conversation was… interesting."

"I would greatly appreciate it if you got out of my house, werewolf," Mrs. Black snapped. Remus rolled his eyes, but left nonetheless.

After apparating back to the flat, Remus found Sirius giggling at the kitchen table while Regulus stormed and Annabel was lying on the couch looking tired.

"That-that fucking harpy," Regulus raged.

"She-she addressed Moony as 'werewolf'! As if that was his real name!" Sirius rocked back on the chair as he laughed.

"I'm never going back there again!" Regulus roared.

"HAHAHAHA!"

"Would you both shut up?" Annabel snapped. "I'm tired."

"Ahahaha, I can't stop!" Sirius chuckled, clutching his side. "I have haven't had a night like that in years!"

"Sirius, go to the bedroom," Remus ordered. While his tone was all business, Remus' face read amusement.

"Yes Moony!" Sirius cheered happily.

"Regulus, perhaps you should calm down for Annabel's sake," Remus suggested. "I'm going to distract Sirius so that you can de-stress."

"Thank you, Remus," Annabel said quietly. "Regulus, dear, help me up and to the bedroom."

"Of course," he said, moving quickly to her side. Remus didn't stick around to watch where it went, as he had an energetic Sirius to deal with.

The moment Remus made it into the bedroom he shared with Sirius, a pair of lips were forced onto his own. They clumsily closed the door and stumbled to the bed, where Sirius fell on Remus. As Sirius moved down his neck, Remus struggled to keep his mind.

"P-pads," Remus stuttered as hands crept under his shirt.

"Mmm?" Sirius hummed against Remus' collarbone.

"We need to Silence the room so that we don't disturb Annabel and Regulus," Remus insisted. It was a fight to remember why he was resisting. Sirius growled.

"Fine," he said, whipping out his wand and preforming the necessary charms. As soon as that was done, Remus stopped resisting, and, if Sirius' actions were anything to go by, it was appreciated.

"Sirius, it's too early to have your tongue in my ear," Remus muttered, trying to swat the person to whom the offending tongue was attached.

"Moony tastes yummy," Sirius mumbled sleepily and pulled the werewolf closer.

"Don't you have to get up for work," Remus asked, knowing full well that the word 'work' would wake Sirius right up.

"Traded my shift," Sirius replied. "I knew that after dinner with my mum I wouldn't be up to work."

"You thought you'd be nursing a massive hangover," Remus clarified.

"Either way, I get to sleep in with my darling Moony," Sirius smiled into the nape of Remus' neck.

"Well, either way, I don't like to wake up with you licking my ear." Remus rolled so that he was facing Sirius.

"I wouldn't mind waking up to _you_ licking _my_ ear," Sirius grinned suggestively. Remus rolled his eyes, quite used to such declarations.

"That's because you've never woken up to a tongue in your ear," Remus replied dryly. "Now are you going to suggest something lewd or am I going to have to initiate things?"

"Wait, you like my lewd suggestions?" Sirius looked excited.

"I've grown far more used to them than I like," Remus corrected. "And when in private, I'd go so far as to like them. When anyone else is around, however, they're utterly embarrassing and entirely inappropriate."

"Yes Moony," Sirius replied as if he was dealing with a moralizing parent. "Can I have my kiss now?" Remus decided to answer that with action rather than words.

When the knock rang through the door, the two had their tongues tangled together. Sirius groaned, but rolled off of Remus.

"Come in!" the werewolf called.

"Merlin," Regulus said holding his hand up so that he couldn't see the two canines. "You could have warned me you weren't decent."

"Define decent," Sirius said at the same time that Remus said, "Sirius has not once, in his whole life, been decent."

"Could you not talk at the same time," Regulus added. "I haven't had the kind of practice Lily's had in understanding it."

"Moony can understand three, sometimes four conversations at once _and_ read a book." Sirius looked proud. "But he has had loads more experience than Lily. What was it that you wanted."

Regulus was at once astounded by his brother's short attention span and his ability to ignore things he didn't want to hear. "Anabell and I found a place, and I just put in an offer," he explained. "I'm hoping to be out of here within a month and stop sponging off you lot."

"Where'd you get the money?" Sirius asked, looking confused.

"Father left me a vault of my own, you know. One he'd set aside as soon has he found out he was going to have a second son."

"Lovely," Sirius replied. "And he never gave up on giving me the proper inheritance?"

"No. Much as he despised your choices in life, I think Father admired the fact that you had the courage to defy him. After all, he wasn't much used to not getting his way." Regulus shrugged. "Besides, he probably wanted to spite that shrew of a woman that is our mother."

"Ah Mum," Sirius said, a smirk on his face. "I had forgotten how much I loved to watch her shout ridiculously prejudiced statements. I mean really, what has she got in her head, black racist slime?"

"You take far too much pleasure in other people's pain," Remus remarked, his head sinking to his hand in shame.

"Love you too, Moony!" Sirius cried happily.

"I'll just leave you two to whatever you were up to before I knocked," Regulus said, backing up slowly and carefully.

Once out of their bedroom, Regulus returned to the kitchen where Annabel was eating a small breakfast and reading the _Prophet_. "Post," she said, holding up a letter for him.

"Who's it from?" Regulus asked.

"Doesn't say." Annabel said, taking a sip of coffee.

Regulus took the envelope from her, and looked at it. He didn't recognize the handwriting, but then, he didn't really care. He ripped it open, and found a single piece of parchment with just two sentences on it. _I know your secret_, it read. _You're dead_.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was from a Death Eater, or the Dark Lord himself, even, but Regulus doubted the latter. He was fairly certain that the Dark Lord had writing more like a Healer's and less like a woman's. But then, one could never be particularly sure.

"Well fuck," he muttered. He had been looking forward to being a father. And now, there was a less than zero percent chance he would live to see the child born, let alone raise the thing.

"What is it?" Annabel looked concerned. Of course, she didn't look too curious. After dating a different Death Eater, Regulus figured she'd probably grown used to not asking.

"Nothing, love," he replied. "It's nothing." He smiled kindly, and she nodded.

"Madame Cassandra wants me in to see some sketches, and to help her with the register while she does fittings. I'd better go." She kissed Regulus on the cheek and left.

Regulus let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. If Sirius and Remus hadn't declared their flat a smoke-free zone, Regulus would have lit up. As it was, he was contemplating whether or not he would be safe to walk down and smoke outside, or to shimmy out to the fire escape and smoke there.

Regulus was trying to remember which window exactly led out to the fire escape when Sirius wandered into the kitchen.

"What's up, little brother?" he asked, with a stretch. He then yawned in a very canine manner that got Regulus feeling even more skittish.

"This," Regulus handed his brother the letter he'd received.

"Does Annabel know?" Sirius asked, eyebrows up. It was a complete shock to him that his brother could be caught.

"No. What am I supposed to tell the pregnant mother of my unborn child?" Regulus snapped. "Oh, my letter's just a death threat, love. Could you pass the marmalade?"

"Better than leaving the poor girl in the dark," Sirius replied. "We've only just lost Peter, after all."

"Which is exactly why I can't tell her," Regulus sighed. "And things were starting to look up."

"Have you done anything that would cause you to get caught?" Sirius just asked simply, accepting this fact.

"Not that I know," Regulus replied. After all, there were very few places when he was honest about his position. The Potter house, and Dumbledore's office were the only places he could think of. Of course, in the flat, they all talked about it in vague terms. But there was no one suspect in the flat.

Well, not right now anyway, he mentally amended. Then it hit him. Bellatrix or either of the Lestrange brothers could have placed a listening charm when they were in the flat.

"Shit," Regulus muttered.

"Bellatrix, right?" Sirius nodded knowingly. Regulus just nodded. They both pulled out their wands and did a sweep of the room.

Regulus found it first. It was placed on photo near the hall. A listening charm, very active, and reeking of Bellatrix's magical signature. Regulus hated that he knew that, but it was necessary, otherwise you'd have no idea which of your masked companions was which.

"How do you turn these things off?" Sirius asked. Regulus waved his wand wordlessly, and the spell dissipated. "I suppose you _would_ know." Sirius smirked at his brother.

"Yes, I would," Regulus replied. "It is, after all, my trade."

"Listening," Sirius nodded. "Which reminds me. I've got a job interview today."

"What? Don't you already have a job?" Regulus looked at his brother oddly. "And shouldn't you be there right now?"

"I took today off work," Sirius replied. "And this is _the interview. I finally figured out what I want to do with my life. But don't tell Moony. I don't want him to know until I get it."_

"_All right," Regulus didn't quite understand why, but he agreed. With his older brother, most of the time, you didn't want to ask. Of course, Remus could probably hear them anyway. There wasn't much in the flat that the werewolf couldn't hear. But then Regulus heard the shower running. That would make it near impossible to hear._

_Regulus decided to head off for a confrontation of epic proportions._


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Well, here we are at the end… I don't really have a whole lot to say. Just enjoy? And reviews are always appreciated! Like the last couple chapters, this is unbeta'd and unedited. Sorry about any mistakes. Oh, and it probably feels rushed, too. But I wanted to finish really badly… So again, I apologize. I think that's all for now, so on to the disclaimer!**

_DISCLAIMER: Yeah, still don't own anything… I don't even have anything funny (or, at least, funny in my world) to say about it. So, that about wraps it up…_

"What secret?" Regulus asked his cousin, glaring at Bellatrix Lestrange harshly. Everything about her looked a little mad. Her hair frizzed out around her head like a dark aura (silly Muggles. Regulus just couldn't get over some things that they thought of. And most of his knowledge was based on things the reasonable Lily had told him), her eyes darted around restlessly, opened wide and bloodshot. Even her mouth was perpetually curved into a crazy grin. 

"Your secret, of course," Bellatrix's grin grew. Regulus' scowl grew in correspondence. 

"You know well that I trade in secrets. What secret, Bella?" Regulus's voice was hard, determined to figure out what it was his cousin really wanted.

"You lied to me. Or rather, in a cowardly manner, you let your brother lie to me for you." Bellatrix smirked, as if she knew something really important, and not simply stupid.

"What, the bard thing?" Regulus raised an eyebrow. "I was out working at the time. Sirius just lied to you. He likes doing that."

"He had a note with your handwriting!" Bellatrix exclaimed. Regulus had forgotten about that. Still, it was easily explained away.

"Sirius is excellent at making forgeries. You know full well what he's like. He's so idiotic with his pranks and childish lies," Regulus rolled his eyes dramatically. "Is that seriously the secret you're holding over me?"

"Well, I know about the girl too. That she's pregnant with your baby, and has been since before that idiot Pettigrew died." Bellatrix's eyes sparkled malevolently. Some days, Regulus wondered why _she_ was just a petty underling to a dark lord and not an actual dark lord herself (or would it be dark lordess?).

"It's not any secret, Bellatrix. My mother even knows. Are you really that idiotic that you would threaten me with just that?" Regulus' glower was withering, and he knew it. He was using it to keep Bellatrix on the defensive, one of the best strategies in extracting information, in his opinion.

"I thought the bard thing would weigh a lot more heavily," Bellatrix admitted stupidly. "After all, if you just disappeared, the Dark Lord would be most displeased. You're his beloved information gatherer." Even when she was acting completely stupid, Bellatrix looked scary.

"Well, I'm leaving. And don't put any more Listening Charms in my brother's flat. Trust me when I say there are things there that you do _not_ want to hear. At all." Regulus turned on his heel and left, hoping Bellatrix understood that he was very serious.

Afterwards, Regulus decided to go out and gather information. After all, it was all he was really good at. And he got paid fairly well for it. There were lots of people out there who paid him to essentially be a private detective, something he'd seen on the telly one day when he was babysitting for Lily and Severus.

He threw a cloak on, despite it being June, and headed off to the Hog's Head. It was the best place for getting jobs and learning things. And besides, Aberforth owed him a drink for covering for him with Albus about a rather illicit game of cards that the Hogwarts headmaster had walked in on. It was safe to say that Dumbledore was fairly oblivious to most of the things that went on in his brother's pub.

"Regulus Black, is that you?" Aberforth asked when he entered.

"Could be," Regulus replied shiftily. "You still owe me a drink."

"I'm well aware, Black," Aberforth replied. "What'll it be?"

"Magick-ale," Regulus replied. "Hear anything good lately?"

"Nothing that'd interest you," Aberforth replied. "Just some hags' gossip." Regulus nodded. Hags were notorious for their gossip.

"I heard something," a gravelly voice said in the corner. The man in question was someone who spent most of his time in Aberforth's pub. Regulus was pretty sure he lived upstairs in the inn, even. Regulus wasn't sure how the man made money, but it wasn't really a good idea to question the customers of the Hog's Head.

"Yeah?" Regulus raised an eyebrow.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is planning something interesting," the man replied. "He is placing people in the Ministry and planning his siege of Hogwarts as he has always been, but there is something new." Regulus had sensed this much, being a Death Eater himself. They'd been getting the oddest orders recently. What it was that they were planning for, however, seemed to be known only to the man himself.

"What else is new?" Regulus rolled his eyes.

"Rumor has it that he's after certain families. That one of his minions heard a prophecy, and reported it to him. What the prophecy says, and why he is after certain families is quite the mystery, but they say the two are related. In fact, no one knows who those families are… except maybe those who know the prophecy." If Regulus could have seen the man's face, he would have sworn there would have been a mysterious smirk on it.

"Do you know who the families are?" Regulus had to force himself to be patient. He knew being impatient would only make the man happy.

"Ahh, I do not," the man shook his head. "I wasn't listening to the prophecy for long enough." The man shook his head sadly. "But I do know who did."

"And…?" Regulus's hands were curling into fists, luckily they were in his cloak sleeves far enough that the man wouldn't be able to see. Not with the poor lighting at the bar, anyway.

"Hehe, my memory seems a bit foggy. I'm a bit thirsty, as it were." Now Regulus was really certain the man was smirking gleefully.

"Aberforth, I believe I'm buying this man a drink," Regulus forced himself to sound impassive, but really, he was frustrated. Usually this man gave him information rather willingly. Most people were well aware of the people that Regulus surrounded himself with, and this man was no exception. Maybe he was feeling particularly courageous.

"A fire whiskey, Abe," the man said happily.

"Don't call me that," Aberforth muttered angrily. Regulus knew that he got upset because that's what Albus called him. "Ten sickles, Regulus," Aberforth informed. Regulus was shocked to hear that Aberforth had picked up the tab for the whiskey instead, and had Regulus paying for his ale.

"What? He gets a discount?" the man asked angrily.

"Something like that," Aberforth muttered. He poured the whiskey before going back to polishing a dirty-looking glass with a dirty-looking rag. 

"Anyway, it's Dumbledore that heard the prophecy," the man informed irritably.

"That was hardly worth the sickles," Regulus muttered, irritable as well. "I'm leaving. Thanks, Aberforth." It was the middle of the day, after all. It had been silly of him to expect much, even in these difficult times. It was odd to think that most everyone was employed, despite the fact (or perhaps because of) Voldemort wreaking havoc all over their entire world.

Regulus headed off to the Potters, meaning to speak to Severus. If anyone could help him make sense of this information, it would be Severus Snape.

"Regulus!" Lily greeted him with a hug. "James is at work, and Sev is brewing in the cellar. He's rather fond of it."

Regulus couldn't help but smirk. Snape loved being underground for some reason, so the Potter's root cellar was the perfect place for him to brew.

Regulus trudged down the steps. He found he spent as much time down there as James and Sirius did out in the shed working on Sirius' bike. It was astonishing, really, that he was over here that often.

"What do you want, Reg?" Snape asked, not even looking up from the roots he was mincing.

"How'd you know it was me?" Regulus asked with a scowl.

"Because everyone else has the decency to thunder down here like a heard of hippogriffs." Snape rolled his eyes at the youngest Black.

"Is it a heard? I know there's a murder of crows, a pride of lions, and a procession of thestrals. Is it really a heard with hippogriffs?" Regulus asked suddenly.

"What would you like it to be?" Snape asked snidely, turning back to his roots.

"A canter. A canter of hippogriffs."

"Why are you here?" Apparently spending time with his brother was wearing off on him, as Regulus seemed more and more distracted as the weeks went by.

"Little tidbit I heard at the Hog's Head," Regulus confided, sitting at a stool near Severus' brewing station. "You know how Our Lord has been a bit…odd lately? Like he's planning something secret."

"Yes. I'm not Goyle," Snape drawled.

"Well apparently he heard a prophecy that has him targeting certain families. I don't know what families, and I don't know what the prophecy's about, but I'm sure Dumbledore does." Regulus watched Snape closely for a reaction.

"Oh?" Severus was adding things to a steaming potion.

"My source told me that Dumbledore heard the prophecy. I was hoping to ask him about it…" Regulus was worried. He wanted to know who the families were. He wanted to _save_ somebody to properly atone for his past.

"Well, I think it best to tell him that the Dark Lord is planning _something_ and that you have information on what, but it would be foolish to think about poking your nose into something that doesn't concern you." Snape took a moment to glance sternly at Regulus.

"I'm an information man," Regulus replied. "I need to know."

"Sometimes it's better not to know," Snape replied. "Ignorance is bliss. Look at Professor Binns. He has no clue he's a ghost, and he doesn't have that gloomy air that other ghosts have."

"Yeah, Sev, I know." Regulus shook his head. "I just… I don't know. Don't they say that you can't have happy without sad anyway."

"Regulus, how much did you drink?" Severus asked him.

"Hardly anything," Regulus waved him off.

"Yes, well," Severus said simply. Then he added, "They also say that curiosity killed the cat, you know."

"I'm aware, Sev. Sometimes I can't help myself. You know me."

"Oh no," Snape muttered, horrified. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." Lily, James and the children were all asleep, and Severus had just returned from a Death Eater meeting of the worst kind. Regulus was _not_ going to be pleased when he found out who exactly the Prophecy targets were. As it was, Snape was quite angry. And devastated as well. This would mean, of course, that he had to contact Dumbledore as soon as possible. Luckily, Snape had finally managed a corporeal Patronus.

First, he sent word to Regulus, who had been absent from the Death Eater meeting for undisclosed reasons, before sending Dumbledore his findings. The Order was going to need to jump into action to take care of this one.

Snape then headed down to the basement, knowing he wouldn't sleep tonight. He couldn't. Not considering the news. It was nearly five in the morning anyway. Soon, Lily and James would wake up, the children would need to be fed, and a terrible day would really start. Until then, Severus Snape had to calm his nerves by brewing.

It was eight when he was broken out of his work by Lily coming down the stairs in a loud manner. "Hello, Sev," she said. "You didn't come to bed last night."

"No. I had to be a Death Eater for most of that time," Severus replied. "And after the meeting I couldn't sleep." Lily nodded in understanding. This wasn't odd for them. Severus rarely slept after Death Eater activities.

"Who are you brewing for?" Lily asked with interest.

"The family," Severus said simply. "You wouldn't know, being muggleborn, and James' skills are decidedly lackluster, but most wizarding families have certain standbys on store at all times. Pepper-up Potions and other healing potions mostly."

"James hasn't made a single potion since we graduated," Lily said with an eye roll. "And I can't say that I honestly need any of it. I know a bit of first aid from summer jobs."

"Well, once Harry and Rose start moving, you're going to want restoration draughts and burn balms. Not to mention pain relieving potions for when, inevitably, they start flying and hurt themselves." Snape looked at Lily. "Of course, most won't keep. But it's better if we're at least prepared. We're in a war, after all.""Yes, I suppose you're right," Lily nodded. "It's just an odd thing to get used to. All of magic is. I don't think I'm quite prepared to be a house witch."

"Understandable," Snape nodded. "It must be hard, going from one life to another."

"Frustrating is a good descriptor too," Lily replied. "When I first started Hogwarts, I thought that magic was just an accessory that would make my mundane life easier. Like a fridge or a toaster, you know?" She paused here. Snape nodded for her to continue. "Instead, it's just got me in a different world, dealing with problems I wouldn't have thought possible. And the funniest thing is, I wouldn't trade this for the world."

Snape knew he had to tell Lily, and James as well, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't tell them something so devastating. Not without help.

"It's odd," Lily told him, breaking the brief silence. "Dumbledore Flooed. Said he was going to stop by 'round midday."

"Oh?" Snape was shocked out of his contemplation.

"Yeah. He said James had to be there, so James had to take the day off. He's up playing with Harry and Rose right now." Lily looked a bit peeved, even if they didn't need James' income. It was the principle of the matter, after all, and Snape knew that Lily was adamant that James knew what proper work was like. It seemed he, like Sirius, couldn't find a job to fit. Admittedly, working part time jobs with a bunch of teenagers wasn't exactly something they would find interesting, but it _was_ all they were qualified for in the muggle world.

"It's probably quite important, Dumbledore coming all the way out here," Snape assured her. "And he wouldn't do something like this if it weren't necessary."

"I know," Lily sighed. "It's just, some days, it's nice to pretend like everything is normal."

"Well everything is not normal. We're not normal people." Snape didn't really know if he was consoling her, or making things worse, but he did know that he was lying at least a little bit.

"No, it's just not normal circumstances," Lily replied. "I'm perfectly normal, I'll have you know." Snape resisted the urge to point out their living situation, and instead went a different route.

"Nobody who allows Sirius Black in their home unsupervised-and no, James doesn't count as supervision-is not normal in the slightest." Snape staved off the protest he knew she would make.

"Fine. I'll concede on that point," Lily replied. "But just for you. Everyone else would get a right earful."

"I'm well aware," Snape replied. His potion being finished then, he took it off the flame and started bottling. Lily moved to help, taking the bottles as Snape finished, sealing them, and sticking blank labels on.

"What is this?" Lily asked, looking at the greenish grayish blue sludge-like liquid.

"A rather potent regrowth serum," Snape told her. "For flesh, usually it's used on burns, deep cuts, and in surgeries."

"Oh my," Lily replied. "How should I label it?"

"Potent Regrowth Serum," Snape replied. "Generally, I'll know what we ought to use if someone gets hurt, but in the event that I'm injured or you can't call me, be careful with these potions. Most are similarly labeled. In all honesty, I should probably let you brew with me, just so you know what we have, but I doubt you'd want to spend your days down here in the cellar brewing, especially with someone as gloomy as I am."

"Perhaps every so often, however, I can help you out," Lily replied. "I'd best get back upstairs soon. Even if he has matured significantly in the last few years, leaving James alone with two children nearing their first birthdays is, I'm afraid to say, something no mother in her right mind would even consider."

"I was about to head up for breakfast as well," Snape replied, climbing the steps with Lily.

"The kids should be pleased," Lily said off-handedly. Snape was getting tired of the small talk. He wished noon would roll around, just for the sheer fact that then Lily and James would know. Then he wouldn't have to fret over telling them.

Once on the first floor, James and the kids could be heard laughing and playing in the living room. "Well at least he isn't a stag right now," Lily muttered, recalling an incident when James, Peter, and Sirius had all transformed in her living room. Luckily, that had been before the children were born.

"Oh, Sev!" James greeted. "Reg called for you about five minutes ago. Said something about you being a prat and a tease."

Snape nodded, and picked up the phone. He dialed, then walked around to the hall, thankful that the phone had such a long cord. "Sirius Black," Sirius chirped happily into the phone.

"I need to speak to Regulus," Snape said simply.

"He and Annabel are in the middle of moving," Sirius explained. "Oh, wait, he just walked in. OH DARLING BROTHER!" Despite being quite good on the phone for a pureblood, Sirius had yet to master the technique of moving the reciever when you weren't speaking to the person on the line.

There was the sound of the phone changing hands, and then a, "Yes?"

"James said you called." Severus said simply. He was short and to the point, on the phone especially.

"Oh, yeah, about that message you sent me last night," Regulus was well-used to dealing with information of a sensitive nature, and didn't add anything that would give it away. He was aware of the panic that would occur if any idea of the knowledge slipped out.

"Knowing your curiosity, I felt the need to alert you," Snape replied. "It seems, however, that Dumbledore has a plan, as he's coming 'round about middy."

"Good, good," Regulus replied. "I'm sure Dumbledore knows what he's doing, but you five should really just drop off the face of the earth."

"I know," Snape said. "And believe me, if Dumbledore doesn't suggest it, then I will."

"Well, I should go. Annabel and I are almost moved in to the house. Just a few more trips, and we should have everything." Snape smiled a little. Regulus sounded happy, despite the political climate in the wizarding world. Snape wasn't going to take that away from him.

After hanging up with Regulus, the time passed slowly for Severus, waiting for Dumbledore to show up. It was agonizing, sitting there, knowing that his family, and they were his family now despite the fact that it was official, was being targeted by the Dark Lord, and not being able to say anything about it.

When Dumbledore arrived, a tedious amount of time was spent on greetings and small talk. Finally, _finally_, Dumbledore arrived at the subject that he had made the visit in the first place.

"Lily, James, I have been informed, regrettably, that you personally are being targeted by the Dark Lord. In fact, I have been led to believe that Harry is the main target." Dumbledore glanced over at boy, who was crawling around the living room, wearing a big grin. Lily and James, who were sat on the couch, were silent with shock. "Rest assured," Dumbledore added, "that there is some grey area. It seems no one is quite sure he's targeting you or the Longbottoms. You could well be safe, however, I would like to assure your safety. I wish for you to go deep into hiding. That way, Voldemort should have trouble finding you."

"So you're saying," Lily said, recovering slightly from the shock, "that either our family, or some of our close friends, are being singled out by this evil, evil man, and we're supposed to _hide_?"

"I'm afraid, Lily, that it's the best option. It will give you the best chance for survival. If I were you, I would consider performing Fidelius Charm, or something similar. Even leaving the country-by muggle means, of course-could be a good idea. Don't you agree, Severus?" Dumbledore's gaze suddenly shifted to the man in question.

"I'm afraid to say that going deep into hiding would be the safest bet, considering the Dark Lord. He is dedicated to this pursuit of at least one of the two families. The best thing we could do is hide." Snape's dark eyes, met Lily's vibrant green ones. "It's the best thing we can do."

"Are you certain we can't take him?" James asked. "Are you certain there's no way we can fight?" Even now, nearly four years out of school, James was ever the Gryffindor.

"No," Dumbledore said. Snape wasn't sure if he meant no, there was nothing they could do, or no, he wasn't certain. Snape didn't think he wanted to know.

"James, he's much more powerful than you can imagine," Snape wore a soft look. "It's in our best interest-and moreover, the children's best interests-that we go into hiding. I know it sounds cowardly, but isn't the brave thing to do, to protect the people you care about, no matter what it takes?" Snape knew that his appeals were much more likely to win James and Lily over than anything Dumbledore said.

"You knew," Lily gasped. "You must have found out last night at the meeting." She raised a hand to her mouth, showing how shocked she was.

"Somehow, I couldn't tell you," Snape muttered, ashamed of his own cowardice. "I was too afraid. It was too hard."

"It's quite all right, Sev," James stood and wrapped him in a hug. Lily joined.

"Well, I'll leave you to your preparations." Dumbledore stepped out surreptitiously, wearing a pleased grin. None of the three noticed.

"Have you heard from Severus lately?" Annabel asked one morning, months later.

"Yeah, he sent a letter through the muggle post the other day. Petunia sent it along when she stopped by Siri's place," Regulus replied. "Said that James is going a little stir crazy, but Lily and the kids are happy."

"How are Harry and Rose?" Annabel asked, rubbing her own swollen stomach, close to bursting.

"Harry's taking after his parents quite a bit. He has Lily's temper and James' ability on a broom. He's getting pretty good on his toy broom, according to Severus. Rose, on the other hand, is much more methodical than her brother. Both are in good health, and everything's going as well as it can while they're in hiding." Regulus looked at his pregnant girlfriend.

"It's a good thing they left the country," Annabel replied. "Especially after Severus defected in, well, _you know_'s eyes." Annabel hadn't been as affected by public opinion on speaking Voldemort's name, but she had been affected by Regulus' tale of Bellatrix's Listening Charm, and was very careful what she said on certain matters.

"Indeed," Regulus said.

"Oh my," Annabel murmured, looking down at the paper.

"What is it, Bell?" Regulus asked, leaning over and looking at the paper. "_Longbottoms Dead, Only Baby Survives: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Nowhere To Be Found_," Regulus read aloud. He continued scanning down the article.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Annabel asked him excitedly. "The Potters can come home." Somehow, in the time they'd been gone, James, Lily, and Severus (with Harry and Rose, of course) had become, collectively, "the Potters." It was odd to think of the family like that, but there it was. And they really were a family unit, so Regulus wondered why no one had started using it sooner.

"It could be a bit yet," Regulus said cautiously. "They'll probably wait for things to cool down here. There are still Death Eaters running rampant."

"Like you?" Annabel joked.

"No, I mean like my cousin Bella," Regulus said seriously. "Even if _he's_ gone, it's not particularly safe, is it?"

"Hmmm," Annabel muttered. "I had hoped, too, they'd be here when our little one was born." She let out a small sigh. "I had hoped Lily would be godmother, you know. And Severus could be godfather, don't you think?"

"What about Sirius?" Regulus asked.

"I figured he's got his hands full, being Harry's godfather, after all." Annabel smiled. "And according your brother, Remus is practically Harry's godmother." She wore a small smirk.

"We can forget about them all, you know," Regulus told her. "We could run away, and fall off the face of the earth. Your brother could even join us, if you wanted him to know. We don't have to stay around these crazies."

"I like them," Annabel replied. "They're excellent as friends."

"On the surface," Regulus replied. "But underneath, I promise you, they're crazy."

"I'm well aware," Annabel replied. "That doesn't change the fact that they're amazing people. I mean, look at how easily they let us in. Even if we don't always understand the joke, even if we don't always understand their humor, we're accepted into their small, exclusive group, and so easily too."

"I know," Regulus muttered. "Sometimes they're just absurdly annoying."

"Now now, is that any attitude a father should have?" Annabel asked.

"I quit smoking for the kid," Regulus grumbled. "Isn't that enough."

"It's more than enough," Annabel said sweetly. "Ooh," she then winced, then looked down at her stomach.

"Is it time?" Regulus asked nervously.

"Not quite," Annabel said calmly. "It'll be a few hours, I should think, before I need to go to Mungo's."

"But it will be today?" Regulus asked with wide eyes.

"We'll go to Mungo's today, yes," Annabel told him. "But it may be a bit before the baby comes. That's all up to him or her."

"Oh Merlin," Regulus said. "I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"It's a little late for that," Annabel replied.

True to her prediction, around midday, Annabel decided it was time to head to St. Mungo's. She was admitted, and was talking to the nurse when, rather noisily, Sirius and Remus barged in. Well, Sirius barged. Remus just followed him.

"I'm going to have a niece!" Sirius exclaimed happily.

"Or a nephew," Remus pointed out.

"Fine. Or a nephew." Sirius pouted. "But I want a niece. I've already got Harry."

"I know," Remus rolled his eyes. Then, he turned to Annabel. "Does Lucas know?"

"Oh my! I'd completely forgotten!" she exclaimed. "Could you floo him?"

"Of course," Remus replied. "I'll be back in a bit."

"I told Prongsie," Sirius said bouncing. "He and the family were visiting Dumbledore this morning."

"Are they coming?" Annabel asked.

"No. The general consensus was that it's still dangerous here. Death Eaters crawling all over the place." Sirius scowled. "That's not the James I knew… okay, it is. He's doing everything he can to keep Lily and Severus and Harry and Rose safe."

"I'm happy, though, about that," Annabel replied. "I suppose we'll have to call them with the gender."

"We will, love," Regulus replied. "Don't worry too much."

"I'm not," she said. "I don't have the time. I'm kind of about to have a child. _Your_ child," she informed him pointedly.

"I know, I know," Regulus muttered. "I'm well-aware."

"Yes, well this is getting painful," Annabel informed him. "I just want you to be aware."

"I love you," Regulus replied.

A few hours later, Annabel was in more pain, and Lucas had showed up, but he was pacing in the waiting room, not a fan of blood or any of that. And that, of course, was when James, Lily, and Severus showed up.

"What?" Annabel, Regulus, Remus and Sirius cried in shock. 

"But you said-" Sirius gaped.

"Yes, well I lied," James replied. "We left the kids with Petunia, who was happy to watch them. She's also getting quite pregnant."

"We didn't miss anything yet, right?" Lily had excitedly moved to Annabel's bed. 

"Nope. Just me. In labor," Annabel replied.

Somehow, with the Potters there, things suddenly picked up pace. And it wasn't terribly long until Annabel was holding a little baby, wrapped in a blue blanket.

"A nephew, really?" was Sirius reaction. "Well, I suppose I'll get used to it."

"Calm down, Siri. We can get a daughter if you really want to aid in the raising of a girl," Remus told him.

"What? You're pregnant?" Sirius asked in his loudest, most obnoxious voice.

"No. I'm not," Remus deadpanned, smacking Sirius on the head.

"Are you upset, Lily, that you couldn't have the Union Ceremony before you went into hiding?" Annabel asked.

"I was at first," Lily admitted. "But I realized it doesn't particularly matter. We're a family, no matter what official records say. Even though it's odd and misshapen, it's still a family. Our family."

"We've redefined family, I should think," Snape said quietly. "All of us in this room are family," he gestured broadly, even at Lucas, who was hidden in the corner. "Not in the most traditional sense of the word, but we're a family as odd and misshapen as Lily thinks we are."

"Yes. Yes we are," Sirius said. "Sometimes you say some good stuff, Snape."

"Eloquent speech there, Padfoot." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Good luck, Chris," Annabel muttered to her new son. "You're going to need it in this family."

"It was such a beautiful ceremony," Petunia wept. "I'm almost more touched than I was at your first wedding." She was blubbering to her sister. Lily couldn't decide if it was hormones (Petunia _was pregnant) or if Petunia really was touched, but it didn't matter. "Vernon was even tearing up."_

"_Because Dudders was tugging at my moustache," Vernon whispered to Lily. Luckily, Petunia didn't seem to hear._

"_Rather brilliant," Sirius told his best friend. "The three of you up there, happy and smiley and teary. Got some lovely photos, Moony did."_

"_Sirius talked through the whole thing," Remus added._

_Everyone, it seemed, was crowing over the Potters. Admittedly, the Union Ceremony had been small, only their closest friends and family attended, but it was pleasant nonetheless. There wasn't a reception planned, however Regulus, Annabel, Petunia, Vernon, Sirius and Remus had all decided to head to the Potters' cottage afterwards._

_After the necessary toast was shared, Sirius cleared his throat. "Moony and I have an announcement," he declared. Everyone quieted down curiously. "We're getting married."_

_Generally, everyone was slightly shocked. "It's because Sirius wants a kid," Remus replied with an eye roll. "And it's nearly impossible to adopt without marrying._

"_Good for you," Annabel smiled. She wasn't looking to marry Regulus anytime soon. Especially considering all the work their son Christopher was._

"_This family of ours," Lily sighed. "It's just going to keep growing, isn't it?"_

"_Yes, quite," Remus agreed, and they all laughed._


End file.
